Critical Survey: Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) versus Saga Communications (NASDAQ:SGA)

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) and Saga Communications (NASDAQ:SGA) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Criteo has a beta of 0.29, meaning that its stock price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Saga Communications has a beta of -0.12, meaning that its stock price is 112% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Criteo and Saga Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Criteo	5.60%	14.33%	8.05%
Saga Communications	-8.55%	3.87%	2.90%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Criteo and Saga Communications”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Criteo	$1.94 billion	0.38	$144.60 million	$1.97	7.65
Saga Communications	$107.11 million	0.48	-$7.90 million	($1.38)	-5.87

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Criteo and Saga Communications, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Criteo	3	3	6	0	2.25
Saga Communications	1	2	0	0	1.67

Criteo currently has a consensus price target of $22.65, suggesting a potential upside of 50.30%. Given Criteo’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Criteo is more favorable than Saga Communications.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.3% of Criteo shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.3% of Saga Communications shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Criteo shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.2% of Saga Communications shares are held by company 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

Criteo beats Saga Communications on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Criteo

Criteo S.A., a technology company, provides marketing and monetization services on the open Internet in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company's Criteo Shopper Graph, which derives clients' proprietary commerce data, such as transaction activity on their digital properties. It also offers Criteo AI Engine solutions, including lookalike finder, recommendation, and predictive bidding algorithms; recommendation algorithms, dynamic creative optimization+, sponsored product placement algorithms, and other product placement algorithms. The company's technology comprises data synchronization, storage, and analysis of distributed computing infrastructure in various geographies, as well as fast data collection and retrieval using multi-layered caching infrastructure; and experimentation platform, an offline/online testing platform to enhance the capabilities and effectiveness of prediction models. In addition, it provides Criteo Marketing Solutions that allow commerce companies to address various marketing goals by engaging their consumers with personalized ads across the web, mobile, and offline store environments; and Criteo Retail Media solutions, which allows retailers to generate advertising revenues from consumer brands, and/or to drive sales for themselves, by monetizing their data and audiences through personalized ads, either on their own digital property or on the open Internet. Further, the company offers real-time advertising technology and trading infrastructure, delivering advanced media buying, selling, and packaging capabilities for media owners, agencies, performance advertisers, and third-party AdTech platforms. It serves companies in digital retail, travel, and classifieds sectors. Criteo S.A. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

About Saga Communications

Saga Communications, Inc., a media company, engages in acquiring, developing, and operating broadcast properties in the United States. The company's radio stations employ various programming formats, including classic hits, country, classic country, hot/soft/urban adult contemporary, oldies, classic rock, rock, and news/talk. It owns and operates FM and AM radio stations, and metro signals serving various markets. Saga Communications, Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.