Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) vs. Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Head to Head Survey

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Sprout Social and Lyft’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sprout Social	-10.59%	-18.93%	-7.76%
Lyft	2.40%	18.29%	2.38%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Sprout Social and Lyft, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sprout Social	1	6	6	0	2.38
Lyft	2	23	11	0	2.25

Sprout Social presently has a consensus target price of $25.82, suggesting a potential upside of 141.07%. Lyft has a consensus target price of $22.67, suggesting a potential upside of 18.02%. Given Sprout Social’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Sprout Social is more favorable than Lyft.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.1% of Lyft shares are held by institutional investors. 10.1% of Sprout Social shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Lyft shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sprout Social and Lyft”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sprout Social	$405.91 million	1.56	-$61.97 million	($0.81)	-13.22
Lyft	$5.79 billion	1.33	$22.78 million	$0.38	50.55

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

Risk & Volatility

Sprout Social has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lyft has a beta of 1.94, indicating that its share price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lyft beats Sprout Social on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc. designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action. It offers integrated tools, such as social engagement/response; publishing; reporting and analytics; social listening and business intelligence; reputation management; social commerce; employee advocacy; and automation and workflows. In addition, the company provides smart inbox, social customer relationship management, social monitoring and alerts, customer service tools, and automation; and centralized content planning, creation, and publishing, automated scheduling, content performance reporting, suggested content, message approval workflows, publishing permissions and governance, and content and asset libraries. Further, it offers social media; content performance, customer service and team, custom report builder, and reporting API; and market research, brand health, competitive insights, consumer trends, and product feedback; and social commerce, reputation management, employee advocacy, mobile applications, and chat bot creation and management. Additionally, the company offers professional services consisting of consulting and training services. It serves social and community management; public relations; marketing; influencer marketing; customer service and care; commerce, sales and customer acquisition; recruiting and hiring, product development, and business strategy; and small-and-medium-sized businesses, mid-market companies, enterprises, marketing agencies, government, non-profit, and educational institutions. Sprout Social, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Lyft

Lyft, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. It operates multimodal transportation networks that offer access to various transportation options through the Lyft platform and mobile-based applications. The company's platform provides a ridesharing marketplace, which connects drivers with riders; Express Drive, a car rental program for drivers; and a network of shared bikes and scooters in various cities to address the needs of riders for short trips. It also offers centralized tools and enterprise transportation solutions, such as concierge transportation solutions for organizations; Lyft Pink subscription plans; Lyft Pass commuter programs; first-mile and last-mile services; and university safe rides programs. The company was formerly known as Zimride, Inc. and changed its name to Lyft, Inc. in April 2013. Lyft, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.