Contrasting Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) & Next 15 Group (OTCMKTS:NXFNF)

Next 15 Group (OTCMKTS:NXFNF) and Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

4.0% of Direct Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. 80.8% of Direct Digital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Next 15 Group and Direct Digital’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Next 15 Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.02	726.90
Direct Digital	$157.11 million	0.52	$1.99 million	$0.14	40.57

Direct Digital has higher revenue and earnings than Next 15 Group. Direct Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Next 15 Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Next 15 Group and Direct Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Next 15 Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Direct Digital	1.26%	48.38%	3.30%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Next 15 Group and Direct Digital, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Next 15 Group	0	0	0	0	N/A
Direct Digital	0	1	2	0	2.67

Direct Digital has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 269.72%. Given Direct Digital’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Direct Digital is more favorable than Next 15 Group.

Summary

Direct Digital beats Next 15 Group on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Next 15 Group

Next 15 Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides communications services in the United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, the United States, and the Asia Pacific. It offers strategy and insight, online marketing, corporate and internal communications, media training, brand and message consultancy, market research, digital, marketing communications, and creative and content, as well as public, media, analyst, and investor relation services; and digital and technology products and services. The company provides its services under the activate, Agent3, Archetype, Beyond, The Blueshirt Group, Brandwidth, Conversion Rate Experts, ELVIS, encore, House 337, M Booth, M Booth Health, Mach49, MHP Group, Mighty Social, Outcast, Palladium, Planning-inc, Publitek, Savanta, SMG, Transform, twogether, and Velocity brands. The company was formerly known as Next Fifteen Communications Group plc and changed its name to Next 15 Group plc in April 2023. Next 15 Group plc was incorporated in 1981 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

About Direct Digital

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. operates as an end-to-end full-service programmatic advertising platform. The company's platform primarily focuses on providing advertising technology, data-driven campaign optimization, and other solutions to underserved and less efficient markets on both the buy- and sell-side of the digital advertising ecosystem. It serves various industry verticals, such as travel, healthcare, education, financial services, consumer products, and other sectors with a focus on small and mid-sized businesses. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.