Financial Review: Echostar (NASDAQ:ECHO) vs. Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD)

Echostar (NASDAQ:ECHO) and Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Echostar has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Trade Desk has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Echostar and Trade Desk’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Echostar	-38.71%	-1.28%	-0.25%
Trade Desk	13.61%	16.09%	6.90%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Echostar and Trade Desk”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Echostar	$15.00 billion	1.65	-$14.50 billion	($24.92)	-3.43
Trade Desk	$2.99 billion	1.92	$443.30 million	$0.84	14.56

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Echostar and Trade Desk, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Echostar	1	1	7	1	2.80
Trade Desk	9	26	4	0	1.87

Echostar currently has a consensus target price of $138.56, suggesting a potential upside of 62.30%. Trade Desk has a consensus target price of $18.16, suggesting a potential upside of 48.53%. Given Echostar’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Echostar is more favorable than Trade Desk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

33.6% of Echostar shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.8% of Trade Desk shares are held by institutional investors. 54.6% of Echostar shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.7% of Trade Desk shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Trade Desk beats Echostar on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Echostar

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Hughes and EchoStar Satellite Services (ESS). The Hughes segment offers broadband network technologies, managed services, equipment, hardware, satellite services, and communications solutions to government and enterprise customers. The segment also designs, provides, and installs gateway and terminal equipment to customers for other satellite systems. In addition, it designs, develops, constructs, and provides telecommunication networks comprising satellite ground segment systems and terminals to mobile system operators and enterprise customers. Further, this segment designs, provides, and installs gateway and terminal equipment to customers for other satellite systems, as well as offers satellite ground segment systems and terminals for other satellite systems, including mobile system operators. The ESS segment provides satellite services using its owned and leased in-orbit satellites and related licenses to offer satellite services on a full-time and/or occasional-use basis to the U.S. government service providers, internet service providers, broadcast news organizations, content providers, and private enterprise customers. It serves customers in North America, South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, India, and the Middle East. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.

About Trade Desk

The Trade Desk, Inc. operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices. It provides data and other value-added services. The company serves advertising agencies, brands, and other service providers for advertisers. The Trade Desk, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Ventura, California.