VIQ Solutions (NASDAQ:VQS) versus Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) Head-To-Head Contrast

VIQ Solutions (NASDAQ:VQS – Get Rating) and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU – Get Rating) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for VIQ Solutions and Baidu, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
VIQ Solutions	0	0	1	0	3.00
Baidu	0	2	13	0	2.87

VIQ Solutions presently has a consensus price target of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 545.16%. Baidu has a consensus price target of $181.06, indicating a potential upside of 36.73%. Given VIQ Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe VIQ Solutions is more favorable than Baidu.

Risk and Volatility

VIQ Solutions has a beta of -0.14, indicating that its share price is 114% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Baidu has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

17.4% of VIQ Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.1% of Baidu shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.9% of VIQ Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.7% of Baidu shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares VIQ Solutions and Baidu’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
VIQ Solutions	$31.05 million	0.35	-$19.68 million	($0.34)	-0.91
Baidu	$17.93 billion	2.55	$1.10 billion	$2.89	45.82

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

Profitability

This table compares VIQ Solutions and Baidu’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
VIQ Solutions	-23.49%	-58.79%	-27.44%
Baidu	6.02%	6.70%	3.89%

Summary

Baidu beats VIQ Solutions on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About VIQ Solutions

(Get Rating)

VIQ Solutions, Inc. engages in the provision of artificial intelligence driven digital voice and video capture technology and transcription solutions. Its solutions include CapturePro, MobileMic Pro, NetScribe, and aiAssist, FirstDraft and Lexel. The firm serves the law enforcement, legal, insurance, media, corporate, and government clients. The company was founded on November 10, 2004 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.

About Baidu

(Get Rating)

Baidu, Inc. engages in the provision of internet search and online marketing solutions. The firm’s products and services include Baidu App, Baidu Search, Baidu Feed, Haokan, Quanmin, Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baidu Input Method Editor or Baidu IME and Overseas Products. It operates through the following segments: Baidu Core and iQIYI. The Baidu Core segment provides search-based, feed-based, and other online marketing services. The iQiyi segment is an online entertainment service provider, which offers original, professionally produced and partner-generated content on its platform. The company was founded by Yanhong Li and Xu Yong on January 18, 2000 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.