Financial Contrast: Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU)

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Lyft and Sohu.com, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lyft	2	22	10	0	2.24
Sohu.com	0	1	2	0	2.67

Lyft presently has a consensus price target of $22.76, suggesting a potential upside of 32.31%. Sohu.com has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.44%. Given Lyft’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lyft is more favorable than Sohu.com.

Volatility & Risk

Lyft has a beta of 1.94, suggesting that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sohu.com has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lyft and Sohu.com”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lyft	$5.79 billion	1.19	$22.78 million	$0.38	45.26
Sohu.com	$598.40 million	0.86	-$100.27 million	$5.01	3.40

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

Profitability

This table compares Lyft and Sohu.com’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lyft	2.40%	18.29%	2.38%
Sohu.com	25.92%	-4.20%	-2.55%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.1% of Lyft shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.0% of Sohu.com shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of Lyft shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.1% of Sohu.com shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lyft beats Sohu.com on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lyft

Lyft, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. It operates multimodal transportation networks that offer access to various transportation options through the Lyft platform and mobile-based applications. The company's platform provides a ridesharing marketplace, which connects drivers with riders; Express Drive, a car rental program for drivers; and a network of shared bikes and scooters in various cities to address the needs of riders for short trips. It also offers centralized tools and enterprise transportation solutions, such as concierge transportation solutions for organizations; Lyft Pink subscription plans; Lyft Pass commuter programs; first-mile and last-mile services; and university safe rides programs. The company was formerly known as Zimride, Inc. and changed its name to Lyft, Inc. in April 2013. Lyft, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Sohu.com

Sohu.com Limited engages in the provision of online media, video, and game products and services on personal computers (PCs) and mobile devices in China. It operates through two segments: Sohu and Changyou. The company offers online news, information, and content services through the mobile phone application Sohu News APP, mobile portal m.sohu.com, and www.sohu.com for PCs; and online video content and services through mobile phone application Sohu Video APP and tv.sohu.com, as well as ifox, a video application for PC. It also operates Focus (www.focus.cn), which provides online real estate information and services; and 17173.com website, which provides news, electronic forums, online videos, and other online game information services to game players, as well as offers mobile game distribution services. In addition, the company offers interactive online games for PCs and mobile devices. Further, it provides paid subscription and interactive broadcasting services. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.