Analyzing Comtex News Network (OTCMKTS:CMTX) and National Research (NASDAQ:NRC)

Comtex News Network (OTCMKTS:CMTX) and National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

47.3% of National Research shares are held by institutional investors. 24.0% of Comtex News Network shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of National Research shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Comtex News Network and National Research, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comtex News Network	0	0	0	0	0.00
National Research	1	0	0	0	1.00

Profitability

This table compares Comtex News Network and National Research’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Comtex News Network	N/A	N/A	N/A
National Research	11.76%	86.51%	17.40%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Comtex News Network and National Research”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Comtex News Network	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
National Research	$143.06 million	2.14	$24.78 million	$0.76	17.43

National Research has higher revenue and earnings than Comtex News Network.

Risk & Volatility

Comtex News Network has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Research has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

National Research beats Comtex News Network on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Comtex News Network

Comtex News Network, Inc. provides electronic real-time news, and content and proprietary market products in the United States. The company receives, enhances, combines, and filters news and content received from national and international news bureaus, agencies, and publications. Its products comprise CustomWires, the real-time and subject-specific newswires, such as finance, business, foreign exchange, and public companies, as well as real-time trading data in the global stock markets, commodities and futures prices, SEC filing information, personal investment news, economic indicator data, international trade policies, business news, IRS bulletins, and actions from the global financial institutions; and Comtex Top News that include editorial news summaries in 29 categories. The company also provides feed products and custom solutions; and SmarTrend products for managing investments. Comtex News Network, Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is based in New York, New York.

About National Research

National Research Corporation provides analytics and insights that facilitate measurement and enhancement of the patient and employee experience. Its portfolio of subscription-based solutions provides actionable information and analysis to healthcare organizations across a range of mission-critical, constituent-related elements, including patient experience, service recovery, care transitions, employee engagement, reputation management, and brand loyalty. The company also offers marketing solutions that allow the tracking of awareness, perception, and consistency of healthcare brands; assessment of competitive differentiators; and enhanced segmentation tools to evaluate needs, wants, and behaviors of communities through real-time competitive assessments and enhanced segmentation tools. In addition, it provides experience solutions, such as patient experience, employee engagement, health risk assessments, care transition, and improvement tools. Further, the company provides reputation solutions that allow healthcare organizations to share a picture of their organization and ensure that timely and relevant content informs consumer decision-making; and governance solutions for not-for-profit hospital and health system boards of directors, executives, and physician leadership. National Research Corporation was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska.