Head to Head Analysis: QuoteMedia (OTCMKTS:QMCI) vs. HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM)

QuoteMedia (OTCMKTS:QMCI) and HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

69.6% of HealthStream shares are held by institutional investors. 47.1% of QuoteMedia shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of HealthStream shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

QuoteMedia has a beta of 0.03, indicating that its share price is 97% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HealthStream has a beta of 0.43, indicating that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares QuoteMedia and HealthStream’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
QuoteMedia	-11.88%	N/A	-34.06%
HealthStream	6.93%	5.82%	4.07%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for QuoteMedia and HealthStream, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
QuoteMedia	0	0	0	0	0.00
HealthStream	0	4	1	0	2.20

HealthStream has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.63%. Given HealthStream’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HealthStream is more favorable than QuoteMedia.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares QuoteMedia and HealthStream”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
QuoteMedia	$18.74 million	0.68	-$1.33 million	($0.03)	-4.67
HealthStream	$291.65 million	2.22	$20.01 million	$0.68	32.07

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

Summary

HealthStream beats QuoteMedia on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About QuoteMedia

QuoteMedia, Inc. provides financial data, market research information, analytics, news feeds, and financial software solutions to online brokerages, banks, clearing firms, financial service companies, media portals, and public corporations worldwide. It collects, aggregates, and delivers delayed and real-time financial data content through the Internet. The company also offers market information and services, including streaming stock market data feeds, research and analysis information, content applications, portfolio management systems, software products, corporate investor relations provisioning, news services, mobile apps, and custom development. In addition, its data feeds coverage includes equities, options, futures, commodities, currencies, mutual funds, ETFs, and indices. Further, the company provides financial data delivery application products and components comprising quote modules, charts, market movers, news, watch lists, tickers, market summaries, option chains, filings, fundamentals, investor relations solutions, stock and fund screeners, and others; and QMod, a web delivery system for delivering market data content to Web platforms. Additionally, it offers portfolio managements systems, including Quotestream Desktop, We, and Mobile, a Web-delivered, embedded application providing real-time, tick-by-tick, streaming market quotes and research information; Quotestream Professional that offers low-latency tick-by-tick data, customizable screens, advanced charting, comprehensive technical analysis, news, and research data for financial services professionals; Web Portfolio Manager, which provides immediate web access to detailed quote data, market and company news, charting, depth/level II, filings, historical data, snap quotes, and others; and Quotestream Connect that delivers real time data feeds to individual users to power third party applications. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

About HealthStream

HealthStream, Inc. provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based applications for healthcare organizations in the United States. The company’s solutions help healthcare organizations in meeting their ongoing clinical development, talent management, training, education, assessment, competency management, safety and compliance, and scheduling, as well as provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment needs. It offers hStream, a technology platform that powers a range of healthcare workforce solutions. The company provides its solutions to customers across a range of entities within the healthcare industry, including private, not-for-profit, and government entities, as well as pharmaceutical and medical device companies through its direct sales teams. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.