Comparing JOYY (NASDAQ:JOYY) and Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA)

Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA) and JOYY (NASDAQ:JOYY) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Opera and JOYY’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Opera	18.55%	9.14%	8.03%
JOYY	9.64%	3.28%	2.85%

Risk and Volatility

Opera has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JOYY has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Opera and JOYY, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Opera	0	2	3	0	2.60
JOYY	0	1	6	0	2.86

Opera currently has a consensus target price of $24.75, indicating a potential upside of 39.84%. JOYY has a consensus target price of $83.40, indicating a potential upside of 5.22%. Given Opera’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Opera is more favorable than JOYY.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

10.2% of Opera shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of JOYY shares are owned by institutional investors. 84.4% of Opera shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 43.0% of JOYY shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Opera and JOYY”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Opera	$614.83 million	2.56	$108.28 million	$1.39	12.73
JOYY	$2.12 billion	1.83	$2.10 billion	$4.19	18.92

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

Dividends

Opera pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. JOYY pays an annual dividend of $6.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. Opera pays out 56.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. JOYY pays out 147.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

About Opera

Opera Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile and PC web browsers and related products and services in Norway and internationally. The company offers mobile browser products, such as Opera Mini, Opera browser for Android and iOS, and Opera GX for PCs and Mobile; Opera Touch; PC browsers, including Opera for Computers and Opera GX; Apex Football; Opera VPN Pro; and Opera News, an AI-powered personalized news discovery and aggregation service. It provides Opera Crypto Browser for PCs and mobile; browser-based cashback rewards programs; owns GameMaker Studio, a 2D gaming development platform; and GXC, a gaming portal. In addition, the company operates Opera Ads, an online advertising platform; and offers Web3 and e-commerce services. Opera Limited was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Opera Limited is a subsidiary of Kunlun Tech Limited.

About JOYY

JOYY Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates social media platforms that offer users engaging and experience across various video and audio-based social platforms. The company operates Bigo Live, a live streaming platform that allows users to live stream specific moments, such as live talk with other users, make video calls, and watch trend videos; Likee, a short-form video social platform that focuses on enabling users to create short-form video; Hago, a casual game-oriented social platform; and imo, a chat and instant messaging application with functions, including video calls, text messages, and photo and video sharing. It operates in the People’s Republic of China, the United States, the Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia and others. The company was formerly known as YY Inc. and changed its name to JOYY Inc. in December 2019. JOYY Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Singapore.