Contrasting TechTarget (NASDAQ:TTGT) & AdStar (OTCMKTS:ADST)

AdStar (OTCMKTS:ADST) and TechTarget (NASDAQ:TTGT) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares AdStar and TechTarget’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AdStar	N/A	N/A	N/A
TechTarget	-193.29%	-125.41%	-66.06%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for AdStar and TechTarget, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AdStar	0	0	0	0	0.00
TechTarget	1	1	4	0	2.50

TechTarget has a consensus price target of $19.33, indicating a potential upside of 149.46%. Given TechTarget’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe TechTarget is more favorable than AdStar.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AdStar and TechTarget”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AdStar	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TechTarget	$284.90 million	1.94	-$116.86 million	($0.42)	-18.45

AdStar has higher earnings, but lower revenue than TechTarget.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.5% of TechTarget shares are held by institutional investors. 22.6% of AdStar shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of TechTarget shares are held by 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.

Summary

TechTarget beats AdStar on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AdStar

AdStar, Inc. engages in the provision of advertising technology services to publishers. It focuses on its application service provider. The company was founded by Leslie Bernhard and Eli Rousso in 1986 and is headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA.

About TechTarget

TechTarget, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marketing and sales services that deliver business impact for business-to-business technology companies in North America and internationally. The company's service enables technology vendors to identify, reach, and influence corporate information technology (IT) decision-makers actively researching specific IT purchases; and customized marketing programs that integrate demand generation, brand advertising techniques, and content curation and creation. It offers business to business services, such as IT Deal Alert, a suite of data, software, and services comprising Priority Engine and Qualified Sales Opportunities to identify and prioritize accounts and individuals actively researching new technology purchases or upgrades; demand solutions provides marketing programs, including white papers, webcasts, podcasts, videocasts, virtual trade shows, and content sponsorships; brand solutions which includes on-network banner advertising and digital sponsorships, off-network banner targeting, and microsites and related formats; custom content creation that delivers market insights and guidance to technology companies and off-the-shelf editorial sponsorship products on topics aligned to customer markets; and BrightTALK platform which allows customers to create, host and promote webinars, virtual events, and video content. In addition, the company operates websites, webinars, and virtual event channels that focus on a specific IT sector, such as storage, security, or networking; and enables registered members to conduct their pre-purchase research by accessing vendor supplied content through its virtual event and webinar channels, and website networks. TechTarget, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.