Critical Contrast: Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) & Zhihu (NYSE:ZH)

Zhihu (NYSE:ZH) and Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Zhihu and Uber Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zhihu	-15.49%	-13.51%	-9.48%
Uber Technologies	10.49%	33.46%	10.55%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.9% of Zhihu shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.2% of Uber Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 13.6% of Zhihu shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Uber Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Zhihu and Uber Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zhihu	0	0	1	0	3.00
Uber Technologies	0	6	32	1	2.87

Zhihu presently has a consensus price target of $5.40, suggesting a potential upside of 49.58%. Uber Technologies has a consensus price target of $90.32, suggesting a potential upside of 26.93%. Given Zhihu’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Zhihu is more favorable than Uber Technologies.

Risk & Volatility

Zhihu has a beta of 0.19, indicating that its stock price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Uber Technologies has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Zhihu and Uber Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zhihu	$591.40 million	0.61	-$118.82 million	($0.90)	-4.01
Uber Technologies	$37.28 billion	4.02	$1.89 billion	$2.01	35.40

Uber Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Zhihu. Zhihu is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Uber Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Uber Technologies beats Zhihu on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Zhihu

Zhihu Inc. operates an online content community in the People’s Republic of China. Its community allows people to seek inspiration, find solutions, make decisions, and have fun. The company offers technology, business support, and consulting services; information transmission, software, and information technology services. It also offers information and marketing services; vocational training; and internet services, as well as holds audio-visual permit. Zhihu Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.

About Uber Technologies

Uber Technologies, Inc. develops and operates proprietary technology applications in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia excluding China and Southeast Asia. It operates through three segments: Mobility, Delivery, and Freight. The Mobility segment connects consumers with a range of transportation modalities, such as ridesharing, carsharing, micromobility, rentals, public transit, taxis, and other modalities; and offers riders in a variety of vehicle types, as well as financial partnerships products and advertising services. The Delivery segment allows to search for and discover restaurants to grocery, alcohol, convenience, and other retails; order a meal or other items; and Uber direct, a white-label Delivery-as-a-Service for retailers and restaurants, as well as advertising. The Freight segment manages transportation and logistics network, which connects shippers and carriers in digital marketplace including carriers upfronts, pricing, and shipment booking; and provides on-demand platform to automate logistics end-to-end transactions for small-and medium-sized business to global enterprises. The company was formerly known as Ubercab, Inc. and changed its name to Uber Technologies, Inc. in February 2011. Uber Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.