Reviewing Autohome (ATHM) & Its Rivals

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) is one of 192 publicly-traded companies in the “Interactive Media & Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Autohome to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.1% of Autohome shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.1% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of Autohome shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.0% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Autohome has a beta of 0.27, suggesting that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Autohome’s rivals have a beta of 1.80, suggesting that their average share price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Autohome pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.1%. Autohome pays out 158.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Interactive Media & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 17.9% and pay out 4.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Autohome lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Autohome and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Autohome	17.05%	4.44%	3.53%
Autohome Competitors	-349.22%	-13.90%	4.37%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Autohome and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Autohome	1	4	1	1	2.29
Autohome Competitors	1433	5962	11470	438	2.57

Autohome currently has a consensus target price of $19.95, indicating a potential downside of 1.02%. As a group, “Interactive Media & Services” companies have a potential upside of 38.15%. Given Autohome’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Autohome has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Autohome and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Autohome	$922.63 million	$225.19 million	17.38
Autohome Competitors	$13.35 billion	$3.41 billion	21.67

Autohome’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Autohome. Autohome is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Autohome rivals beat Autohome on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

Autohome Company Profile

Autohome Inc. operates as an online destination for automobile consumers in the People’s Republic of China. The company delivers interactive content and tools to automobile consumers through its three websites, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn on PCs, mobile devices, mobile applications, and mini apps. It provides media services, including automaker advertising services and regional marketing campaigns; and leads generation services comprising dealer subscription services, advertising services for individual dealers, and used automobile listing and other platform-based services. The company offers Autohome Mall, an online transaction platform; and online bidding platform for used automobiles, as well as collects commissions for facilitating transactions of auto-financing and insurance products on its platform. The company was formerly known as Sequel Limited and changed its name to Autohome Inc. in October 2011. Autohome Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.