Critical Review: AdStar (OTCMKTS:ADST) vs. Stran & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWAG)

Stran & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWAG) and AdStar (OTCMKTS:ADST) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Stran & Company, Inc. and AdStar’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stran & Company, Inc.	-1.38%	-5.05%	-2.88%
AdStar	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.4% of Stran & Company, Inc. shares are owned by institutional investors. 49.6% of Stran & Company, Inc. shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.6% of AdStar shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Stran & Company, Inc. and AdStar, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stran & Company, Inc.	1	0	0	0	1.00
AdStar	0	0	0	0	0.00

Given AdStar’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AdStar is more favorable than Stran & Company, Inc..

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Stran & Company, Inc. and AdStar”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stran & Company, Inc.	$82.65 million	0.46	-$4.14 million	($0.09)	-23.11
AdStar	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

AdStar has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Stran & Company, Inc..

About Stran & Company, Inc.

Stran & Co., Inc. engages in the provision of promotional marketing and branded merchandise services. It offers promotional product, custom manufacturing, custom packaging, warehousing, and program management. The company was founded by Andrew Shape and Andrew Stranberg in 1994 and is headquartered in Quincy, MA.

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.