Head-To-Head Comparison: SGS (OTCMKTS:SGSOY) & comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR)

comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) and SGS (OTCMKTS:SGSOY) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.2% of comScore shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.1% of comScore 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for comScore and SGS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
comScore	0	1	1	0	2.50
SGS	0	2	0	2	3.00

comScore presently has a consensus price target of $10.75, indicating a potential upside of 94.75%. Given comScore’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe comScore is more favorable than SGS.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
comScore	$356.05 million	0.08	-$60.25 million	($15.91)	-0.35
SGS	$7.72 billion	2.55	$659.96 million	N/A	N/A

SGS has higher revenue and earnings than comScore.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
comScore	-17.80%	-1,124.27%	-13.83%
SGS	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

comScore has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SGS has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SGS beats comScore on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About SGS

SGS SA provides inspection, testing, and verification services in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Connectivity & Products, Health & Nutrition, Industries & Environment, Natural Resources, and Business Assurance. The company provides laboratory testing, product inspection and consulting, process assessment, technical and transactional assistance; and automotive, connectivity, softlines and accessories, and hardgoods, toys, and juvenile products, as well as government and trade facilitation services. In addition, it offers a range of testing, inspection and certification solutions for the crop science, food, health science, and cosmetics and hygiene industries; field services, technical assessment, and advisory services; and services related to industrial, public health and safety, environmental testing, and public mandates. Further, it provides assessment, auditing, and certification, supply chain assurance, training, consulting, and sustainability assurance services; agricultural commodities, geochemistry, laboratory testing petroleum and chemicals, metallurgy and consulting, mineral and metal commodities, and oil, gas, and chemical commodities; and sustainability solutions. The company serves the agriculture and food, chemical, construction, consumer and retail, energy, industrial manufacturing, life sciences, mining, oil and gas, public, and transportation sectors. SGS SA was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.