Veritone (NASDAQ:VERI) versus MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Financial Review

Veritone (NASDAQ:VERI) and MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Veritone and MediaAlpha, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Veritone	1	1	3	1	2.67
MediaAlpha	1	0	6	0	2.71

Veritone presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential downside of 10.55%. MediaAlpha has a consensus target price of $18.25, suggesting a potential upside of 63.09%. Given MediaAlpha’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MediaAlpha is more favorable than Veritone.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

39.2% of Veritone shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.6% of Veritone shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.5% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Veritone has a beta of 3.23, suggesting that its stock price is 223% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Veritone	$92.64 million	3.57	-$37.38 million	($0.83)	-6.73
MediaAlpha	$864.70 million	0.88	$16.63 million	($0.12)	-93.25

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

Profitability

This table compares Veritone and MediaAlpha’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Veritone	-40.29%	-4,022.14%	-18.62%
MediaAlpha	-0.61%	-62.53%	12.91%

Summary

MediaAlpha beats Veritone on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Veritone

Veritone, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of artificial intelligence (AI) computing solutions and services in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Israel, and India. It develops and operates aiWARE platform, an AI operating system, that uses machine learning algorithms or AI models designed to mimic human cognitive functions, such as perception, prediction, and problem solving and optimization, as well as enables users to transform unstructured data into structured data, and analyze and optimize data to drive business processes and insights. The company also provides media advertising agency services, including media planning and strategy, media buying and placement, campaign messaging, clearance verification and attribution, and custom analytics directly to advertisers through outbound sales networking, and client and partner referrals, as well as indirectly through advertising agencies or marketing consultants. It serves media and entertainment, government, legal and compliance, energy, and other vertical markets. The company was formerly known as Veritone Delaware, Inc. and changed its name to Veritone, Inc. in July 2014. Veritone, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.