comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) and Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) Financial Analysis

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) and comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.0% of Zillow Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.2% of comScore shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.8% of Zillow Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of comScore shares are owned by company 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Zillow Group and comScore”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zillow Group	$2.16 billion	8.35	-$158.00 million	($0.57)	-135.25
comScore	$356.21 million	0.09	-$79.36 million	($21.75)	-0.30

comScore has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Zillow Group. Zillow Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than comScore, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Zillow Group and comScore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zillow Group	-6.17%	-2.33%	-1.63%
comScore	-25.77%	-243.87%	-19.79%

Volatility and Risk

Zillow Group has a beta of 2.01, suggesting that its share price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, comScore has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Zillow Group and comScore, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zillow Group	0	4	4	2	2.80
comScore	0	1	1	0	2.50

Zillow Group presently has a consensus price target of $70.33, suggesting a potential downside of 8.76%. comScore has a consensus price target of $10.75, suggesting a potential upside of 65.38%. Given comScore’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe comScore is more favorable than Zillow Group.

Summary

Zillow Group beats comScore on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Zillow Group

Zillow Group, Inc. operates real estate brands in mobile applications and Websites in the United States. The company offers premier agent and rentals marketplaces, new construction marketplaces, advertising, display advertising, and business technology solutions, as well as dotloop and floor plans. It also provides mortgage originations and the sale of mortgages, and advertising to mortgage lenders and other mortgage professionals; and title and escrow services. In addition, the company's brand portfolio includes Zillow Premier Agent, Zillow Home Loans, Zillow Rentals, Trulia, StreetEasy, HotPads, and Out East; and a suite of marketing software and technology solutions for the real estate industry, including ShowingTime+, Spruce, and Follow Up Boss. Zillow Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. operates as an information and analytics company that measures audiences, consumer behavior, and advertising across media platforms in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and internationally. The company provides digital ad solutions, including Media Metrix Multi-Platform and Mobile Metrix, which measure websites and applications on computers, smartphones, and tablets; Video Metrix that delivers measurement of digital video consumption; Plan Metrix, which offers understanding of consumer lifestyle; Total Home Panel Suite, which capture OTT, connected TV, and IOT device usage and content consumption; CCR, which enhances validated campaign essentials verification of mobile and desktop video campaigns; XMedia Enhanced, which provides a deduplicated view of national programming content; Comscore marketing solutions; Lift Models, which measures the impact of advertising on a brand; Survey Analytics, which measure various consumer insights including brand health metrics; and Activation Solutions, including audience activation and content activation. The company's cross platform solutions products and services comprises Comscore TVNational that helps customers understand the performance of network advertising campaigns; Comscore TVLocal allows customers to understand consumer viewing patterns and characteristics; OnDemand Essentials that provides transactional tracking and reporting; Movie Solutions; and Hollywood Software Suite. In addition, it offers custom solutions for planning, optimization, and evaluation of advertising campaigns and brand protection. Further, the company provides products that measure movie viewership and box office results by capturing movie ticket sales in real time or near real time. It serves digital publishers, television networks, movie studios, content owners, brand advertisers, agencies, and technology providers. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.