Head-To-Head Survey: Grindr (NYSE:GRND) and Cars.com (NYSE:CARS)

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) and Grindr (NYSE:GRND) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Cars.com has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grindr has a beta of 0.19, meaning that its stock price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Cars.com and Grindr, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cars.com	0	5	3	0	2.38
Grindr	0	1	5	0	2.83

Cars.com presently has a consensus price target of $14.83, indicating a potential upside of 37.28%. Grindr has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.57%. Given Cars.com’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Cars.com is more favorable than Grindr.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cars.com and Grindr”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cars.com	$723.24 million	0.80	$20.05 million	$0.57	18.96
Grindr	$439.90 million	6.24	$94.75 million	$0.50	31.60

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

Profitability

This table compares Cars.com and Grindr’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cars.com	4.73%	18.82%	8.31%
Grindr	18.75%	357.13%	20.08%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.2% of Cars.com shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.2% of Grindr shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Cars.com shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 60.9% of Grindr shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Grindr beats Cars.com on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cars.com

Cars.com Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital automotive marketplace that connects local car dealers to consumers in the United States. The company offers a suite of digital solutions that creates connections between individuals researching cars or looking to purchase a car with car dealerships and automotive original equipment manufacturers. It also sells online subscription advertising products to car dealerships by its direct sales force, as well as through its affiliate sales channel. In addition, the company sells display advertising to national advertisers. Further, it offers online automotive marketplace service that connects buyers and sellers through Cars.com, Auto.com, DealerRater.com, NewCars.com, PickupTrucks.com, DealerInspire.com, and LaunchDigitalMarketing.com Websites. Its platform hosts approximately 4.9 million new and used vehicle listings and serves approximately 20,000 franchise and independent car dealers. Cars.com Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Grindr

Grindr Inc. operates social network and dating application for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities worldwide. Its platform enables LGBTQ people to find and engage with each other, share content and experiences, and express themselves. The company offers ad-supported service and a premium subscription version. Grindr Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in West Hollywood, California.