Fluent (NASDAQ:FLNT) and JC Decaux (OTCMKTS:JCDXF) Financial Review

Fluent (NASDAQ:FLNT) and JC Decaux (OTCMKTS:JCDXF) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Fluent and JC Decaux, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fluent	0	1	0	0	2.00
JC Decaux	0	2	0	1	2.67

Fluent presently has a consensus target price of $2.50, suggesting a potential downside of 22.84%. Given Fluent’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Fluent is more favorable than JC Decaux.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

23.3% of Fluent shares are held by institutional investors. 43.5% of Fluent shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Fluent and JC Decaux’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fluent	-12.47%	-109.15%	-29.76%
JC Decaux	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Fluent and JC Decaux”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fluent	$254.62 million	0.38	-$29.28 million	($1.15)	-2.82
JC Decaux	$3.93 billion	N/A	$280.16 million	N/A	N/A

JC Decaux has higher revenue and earnings than Fluent.

Risk & Volatility

Fluent has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JC Decaux has a beta of 0.37, indicating that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

JC Decaux beats Fluent on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fluent

Fluent, Inc. provides data-driven digital marketing services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Fluent and All Other segments. It offers customer acquisition services by operating digital marketing campaigns, through which the company connects its advertiser clients with consumers. The company also delivers data and performance-based marketing executions to various consumer brands, direct marketers, and agencies across a range of industries, including financial products and services, media and entertainment, health and life sciences, retail and consumer, and staffing and recruitment. Fluent, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About JC Decaux

JCDecaux SE operates as an outdoor advertising company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Street Furniture, Transport, and Billboard. The Street Furniture segment provides advertising services in shopping malls; rents street furniture; and sells and rents equipment, such as automatic public toilets, bikes, etc., as well as provides cleaning, maintenance, and other services. The Transport segment provides advertising services in public transport systems, such as airports, metros, buses, trams, and trains. The Billboard segment is involved in advertising on private property, including traditional large format or back-light billboards; neon-light billboards; and advertising wall wraps. The company was founded in 1964 and is based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. JCDecaux SE is a subsidiary of JCDecaux Holding SAS.