Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) vs. Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Critical Contrast

Sinclair (NASDAQ:SBGI) and Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) 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 risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.7% of Sinclair shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.3% of Criteo shares are held by institutional investors. 42.1% of Sinclair shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Criteo shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sinclair	$3.26 billion	0.32	-$112.00 million	$0.75	19.21
Criteo	$1.94 billion	0.44	$144.60 million	$1.97	8.85

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

Volatility and Risk

Sinclair has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Criteo has a beta of 0.29, meaning that its stock price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sinclair and Criteo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sinclair	1.60%	-16.09%	-0.95%
Criteo	5.60%	14.33%	8.05%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Sinclair and Criteo, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sinclair	3	1	2	0	1.83
Criteo	1	4	6	0	2.45

Sinclair presently has a consensus target price of $19.40, indicating a potential upside of 34.63%. Criteo has a consensus target price of $22.65, indicating a potential upside of 29.87%. Given Sinclair’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Sinclair is more favorable than Criteo.

Summary

Criteo beats Sinclair on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sinclair

Sinclair, Inc., a media company, provides content on local television stations and digital platforms in the United States. It operates through two segments, Local Media and Tennis. The Local Media segment operates broadcast television stations, original networks, and content; provides free-over-the-air programming and live local sporting events on its stations; distributes its content to multi-channel video programming distributors in exchange for contractual fees; and produces local and original news programs. This segment operates The Nest, a free over-the-air national broadcast TV network; Comet, a science fiction network; CHARGE!, an adventure and action-based network; and TBD, a multiscreen TV network. The Tennis segment offers Tennis Channel, a cable network which includes coverage of tennis' top tournaments and original professional sports, and tennis lifestyle shows; Tennis Channel International streaming service; Tennis Channel Plus streaming service; T2 FAST, a 24-hours a day free ad-supported streaming television channel; and Tennis.com and Pickleballtv. It also provides digital and internet solutions; and technical services, including the design and manufacture of broadcast systems. The company distributes its content through broadcast platforms and third-party platforms that consist of programming provided by third-party networks and syndicators, local news, and other original programming. Sinclair, Inc. was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

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.