Head-To-Head Contrast: Perion Network (NASDAQ:PERI) & comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR)

comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) and Perion Network (NASDAQ:PERI) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
comScore	$357.47 million	0.15	-$10.00 million	$4.10	0.83
Perion Network	$436.22 million	0.78	-$7.93 million	($0.35)	-24.97

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

Volatility & Risk

comScore has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Perion Network has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for comScore and Perion Network, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
comScore	1	1	1	0	2.00
Perion Network	1	1	3	1	2.67

Perion Network has a consensus price target of $13.83, suggesting a potential upside of 58.28%. Given Perion Network’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Perion Network is more favorable than comScore.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.1% of comScore shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.1% of Perion Network shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of comScore shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Perion Network shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
comScore	24.01%	133.03%	24.12%
Perion Network	-2.95%	2.43%	1.81%

Summary

Perion Network beats comScore on 9 of the 15 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 Perion Network

Perion Network Ltd. provides digital advertising solutions to brands, agencies, and publishers in North America, Europe, and internationally. It offers Wildfire, a content monetization platform; search monetization solutions, including website monetization, search mediation, and app monetization; and cross-channel digital advertising software as a service platform. The company also provides supply management platform; demand management platform for campaign planning and design; analytics platform, which provides information and performance insights; creative platform, a robust media platform; and an AI platform that uses machine learning to bring intelligence to the various phases of campaigns. In addition, it offers an actionable performance monitoring platform to support the various phases of campaign management; an online video player and integrated ad server to upload, manage, and stream video content; content monetization system, which integrates ads within the content layouts at the page level. Further, the company provides a publisher management system that provides analytics and performance optimization tools, as well as reports; search-demand management systems; monetization products that integrate and onboards demand vendors; and AI Systems. Additionally, it offers Intelligent HUB (iHUB), which connects the supply and demand sides of the marketplace; and strategic optimization of relevant traits (SORT), a provisional patent technology that eliminates the need for cookies. The company was formerly known as IncrediMail Ltd. and changed its name to Perion Network Ltd. in November 2011. Perion Network Ltd. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Holon, Israel.