Financial Survey: Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) & SEA (NYSE:SE)

SEA (NYSE:SE) and Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for SEA and Groupon, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SEA	1	2	10	1	2.79
Groupon	2	1	1	0	1.75

SEA presently has a consensus price target of $149.40, suggesting a potential upside of 40.64%. Groupon has a consensus price target of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.81%. Given SEA’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe SEA is more favorable than Groupon.

Risk & Volatility

SEA has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Groupon has a beta of 0.24, meaning that its stock price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SEA and Groupon”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SEA	$22.94 billion	2.83	$1.58 billion	$2.59	41.02
Groupon	$498.42 million	1.53	-$83.52 million	($3.11)	-6.02

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

59.5% of SEA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Groupon shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of SEA shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 36.6% of Groupon shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares SEA and Groupon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SEA	5.98%	13.54%	5.59%
Groupon	-25.26%	N/A	-20.28%

Summary

SEA beats Groupon on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SEA

Sea Ltd. is an internet and mobile platform company, which engages in the provision of online gaming services. It operates through the following segments: Digital Entertainment, E-Commerce, and Digital Financial Services. The Digital Entertainment segment offers and develops mobile and PC online games. The E-Commerce segment manages a third-party marketplace through the Shopee mobile app and websites that connect buyers and sellers. The Digital Financial Services segment includes a variety of payment services and loans to individuals and businesses through SeaMoney. Sea was founded by Xiao Dong Li, Gang Ye, and Jing Ye Chen on May 8, 2009 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Groupon

Groupon, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a marketplace that connects consumers to merchants. It operates in two segments, North America and International. The company sells goods or services on behalf of third-party merchants. It serves customers through its mobile applications and websites. The company was formerly known as ThePoint.com, Inc. and changed its name to Groupon, Inc. in October 2008. Groupon, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.