Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) and MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Head to Head Analysis

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shutterstock	-22.87%	13.61%	5.49%
MediaAlpha	7.94%	-301.42%	28.23%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.8% of Shutterstock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are held by institutional investors. 32.3% of Shutterstock shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.6% of MediaAlpha shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Shutterstock and MediaAlpha, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shutterstock	1	1	1	0	2.00
MediaAlpha	0	4	3	2	2.78

Shutterstock presently has a consensus price target of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 56.42%. MediaAlpha has a consensus price target of $14.29, suggesting a potential upside of 47.82%. Given Shutterstock’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Shutterstock is more favorable than MediaAlpha.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Shutterstock and MediaAlpha”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shutterstock	$989.92 million	0.17	$45.50 million	($5.65)	-0.79
MediaAlpha	$1.11 billion	0.53	$25.62 million	$1.62	5.97

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

Risk & Volatility

Shutterstock has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MediaAlpha beats Shutterstock on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shutterstock

Shutterstock, Inc. provides platform to connect brands and businesses to high quality content in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers image services consisting of photographs, vectors, and illustrations, which is used in visual communications, such as websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications, and others; footage services, including video clips, filmed by industry experts and cinema grade video effects in HD and 4K formats that are integrated into websites, social media, marketing campaigns, and cinematic productions; and music services comprising music tracks and sound effects, which are used to complement images and footage. It also provides 3 dimensional models consisting of 3D models used in various industries, such as advertising, media and video production, gaming, retail, education, design, and architecture; and generative AI content comprising images generated from algorithms trained with ethically sourced content. The company offers its services under the Shutterstock, Pond5, TurboSquid, PicMonkey, PremiumBeat, Splash News, Bigstock, and Offset brand names. In addition, it operates a collection of graphics interchange format visuals and stickers that supplies casual conversational content. The company serves corporate professionals and organizations, media and broadcast companies, and small and medium-sized businesses, and individual creators through digital, live sales, and client management channels. Shutterstock, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

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.