Head to Head Analysis: AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) and Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS)

Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS) and AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Integral Ad Science and AppLovin’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Integral Ad Science	6.39%	3.47%	2.83%
AppLovin	33.54%	188.55%	29.66%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Integral Ad Science and AppLovin, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Integral Ad Science	0	3	6	0	2.67
AppLovin	1	4	14	1	2.75

Integral Ad Science presently has a consensus price target of $15.06, indicating a potential upside of 74.25%. AppLovin has a consensus price target of $438.28, indicating a potential upside of 67.47%. Given Integral Ad Science’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Integral Ad Science is more favorable than AppLovin.

Risk and Volatility

Integral Ad Science has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AppLovin has a beta of 2.33, indicating that its share price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.8% of Integral Ad Science shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.8% of AppLovin shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Integral Ad Science shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.7% of AppLovin shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Integral Ad Science and AppLovin”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Integral Ad Science	$530.10 million	2.67	$7.24 million	$0.23	37.57
AppLovin	$4.71 billion	18.89	$1.58 billion	$4.54	57.64

AppLovin has higher revenue and earnings than Integral Ad Science. Integral Ad Science is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AppLovin, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

AppLovin beats Integral Ad Science on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Integral Ad Science

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. operates as a digital advertising verification company in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, and the Nordics. The company provides IAS Signal, a cloud-based technology platform that offers return on ad spend needs; and deliver independent measurement and verification of digital advertising across devices, channels, and formats, including desktop, mobile, connected TV, social, display, and video. Its digital media quality solutions offer ad fraud detection and prevention, viewability, brand safety and suitability, contextual targeting, inventory yield management, and reporting. In addition, the company offers Quality Impressions, a metric designed to verify that digital ads are served to a real person rather than a bot, viewable on-screen, and presented in a brand-safe and suitable environment in the correct geography; Context Control solution that delivers contextual targeting and brand suitability capabilities; pre-bid programmatic and post-bid verification solutions for advertisers; and optimization and verification solutions for publishers. It serves advertisers and agencies, publishers, and supply side platforms. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation engages in building a software-based platform for advertisers to enhance the marketing and monetization of their content in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Software Platform and Apps. The company's software solutions include AppDiscovery, a marketing software solution, which matches advertiser demand with publisher supply through auctions; MAX, an in-app bidding software that optimizes the value of a publisher's advertising inventory by running a real-time competitive auction; Adjust, a measurement and analytics marketing platform that provides marketers with the visibility, insights, and tools needed to grow their apps from early stage to maturity; and Wurl, a connected TV platform, which distributes streaming video for content companies and provides advertising and publishing solutions through its AdPool, ContentDiscovery, and Global FAST Pass products. It also offers SparkLabs, which uses app store optimization to enhance ad visibility; AppLovin Exchange, which connects buyers to mobile and CTV devices through a single and direct RTB exchange; and Array, an end-to-end app management suite for mobile operators and end users. In addition, the company operates various free-to-play mobile games. It serves individuals, small and independent businesses, enterprises, advertisers and advertising networks, mobile app publishers, indie studio developers, and internet platforms. AppLovin Corporation was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.