Head to Head Review: Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) vs. Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z)

Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) and Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) are both communication services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Zillow Group and Ziff Davis, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zillow Group	1	8	5	1	2.40
Ziff Davis	0	6	3	0	2.33

Zillow Group currently has a consensus price target of $57.71, indicating a potential upside of 103.72%. Ziff Davis has a consensus price target of $59.75, indicating a potential upside of 4.06%. Given Zillow Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Zillow Group is more favorable than Ziff Davis.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.0% of Zillow Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.8% of Ziff Davis shares are held by institutional investors. 25.0% of Zillow Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Ziff Davis shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Zillow Group and Ziff Davis”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zillow Group	$2.81 billion	2.27	$23.00 million	$0.22	128.77
Ziff Davis	$1.45 billion	1.36	$47.35 million	$17.67	3.25

Ziff Davis has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Zillow Group. Ziff Davis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zillow Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Zillow Group and Ziff Davis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zillow Group	1.96%	2.32%	1.97%
Ziff Davis	48.57%	10.73%	5.54%

Volatility & Risk

Zillow Group has a beta of 2.04, suggesting that its share price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ziff Davis has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Zillow Group beats Ziff Davis on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Zillow Group

Zillow Group, Inc. operates real estate brands in mobile applications and Websites in the United States. The company offers premier agent and rentals marketplaces, new construction marketplaces, advertising, display advertising, and business technology solutions, as well as dotloop and floor plans. It also provides mortgage originations and the sale of mortgages, and advertising to mortgage lenders and other mortgage professionals; and title and escrow services. In addition, the company's brand portfolio includes Zillow Premier Agent, Zillow Home Loans, Zillow Rentals, Trulia, StreetEasy, HotPads, and Out East; and a suite of marketing software and technology solutions for the real estate industry, including ShowingTime+, Spruce, and Follow Up Boss. Zillow Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media and internet company in the United States and internationally. The company offers PCMag, an online resource for laboratory-based product reviews, technology news, buying guides, and research papers; Mashable for publishing technology and culture content; Spiceworks Ziff Davis provides digital content of IT products and services; retailMeNot, a savings destination platform; Offers.com, a coupon and deals website; and event-based properties, including BlackFriday.com, TheBlackFriday.com, BestBlackFriday.com, and DealsofAmerica.com. It also offers gaming and entertainment content under the IGN Entertainment and Humble Bundle brands; and information on internet connectivity under the Ookla, Ekahau, Downdetector, and RootMetrics brands. The company also offers digital content and information services for health and wellness consumers under the Everyday Health, DailyOM, Lose It!, Diabetes Daily, Castle Connolly, and Migraine Again brands; pregnancy and parenting content under the BabyCenter, Emma's Diary, and What to Expect brands; and Medpage Today that delivers medical news. In addition, the company offers PRIME Education, a medical education program for healthcare professionals; and Health eCareers, a digital portal for healthcare professionals. Further, it provides endpoint and email security, security awareness training, secure backup and file sharing, and virtual private network solutions under the IPVanish, VIPRE, Livedrive, Inspired eLearning, and SugarSync brands; and email marketing and delivery solutions, search engine optimization tools, and voice and text communication services under the Campaigner, iContact, SMTP, Kickbox, MOZ Pro, MOZ Local, Stat Analytics, eVoice, and Line2 brands. The company was formerly known as j2 Global, Inc. and changed its name to Ziff Davis, Inc. in October 2021. Ziff Davis, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York.