Analyzing Sonic Foundry (SOFO) and Its Rivals

Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ:SOFO) is one of 41 public companies in the “Radio & t.v. communications equipment” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Sonic Foundry to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Sonic Foundry and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sonic Foundry	-79.62%	-555.89%	-68.23%
Sonic Foundry Competitors	-49.62%	33.82%	-5.10%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Sonic Foundry and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sonic Foundry	0	0	1	0	3.00
Sonic Foundry Competitors	331	1563	2480	115	2.53

Sonic Foundry presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 306.50%. As a group, “Radio & t.v. communications equipment” companies have a potential upside of 20.72%. Given Sonic Foundry’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sonic Foundry is more favorable than its rivals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sonic Foundry and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sonic Foundry	$23.04 million	-$7.08 million	-0.47
Sonic Foundry Competitors	$13.06 billion	$811.68 million	6.02

Sonic Foundry’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Sonic Foundry. Sonic Foundry is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk & Volatility

Sonic Foundry has a beta of 0.27, suggesting that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonic Foundry’s rivals have a beta of -3.70, suggesting that their average share price is 470% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

16.6% of Sonic Foundry shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.7% of shares of all “Radio & t.v. communications equipment” companies are held by institutional investors. 46.5% of Sonic Foundry shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.0% of shares of all “Radio & t.v. communications equipment” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Sonic Foundry rivals beat Sonic Foundry on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Sonic Foundry

Sonic Foundry, Inc. provides video capture, management, and streaming solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and internationally. The company offers Video Capture solutions, including Mediasite Recorder and Recorder Pro that are built-in room appliances used in schedule-based capture and advanced audio/video integration; Mediasite Mobile Recorders, a portable recording device used to capture and stream broadcast-quality video; and Mediasite Mosaic & Mosaic Pro that allows instructors, employees, and students to create videos, screencasts, and slideshows from their computers or mobile devices. It also provides Video Management and Delivery solutions to manage, search, analyze, publish, and stream video content; and Mediasite Cloud, a Software as a Service solution to host and manage customers' content. It markets its products to educational institutions, corporations, and government entities through reseller networks, direct sales, and partnerships with system integrators. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.