Analyzing JOYY (NASDAQ:YY) & JOYY (NASDAQ:JOYY)

JOYY (NASDAQ:JOYY) and JOYY (NASDAQ:YY) are both mid-cap communication services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

JOYY has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JOYY has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
JOYY	$2.12 billion	1.89	$2.10 billion	$4.19	19.60
JOYY	$2.24 billion	1.95	$301.82 million	($3.10)	-26.15

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JOYY	9.64%	3.28%	2.85%
JOYY	9.02%	4.64%	2.96%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

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

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JOYY	0	1	6	0	2.86
JOYY	0	0	2	0	3.00

JOYY presently has a consensus target price of $83.40, indicating a potential upside of 1.58%. JOYY has a consensus target price of $66.00, indicating a potential downside of 18.57%. Given JOYY’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe JOYY is more favorable than JOYY.

Dividends

JOYY pays an annual dividend of $6.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. JOYY pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. 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. JOYY pays out -120.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

JOYY beats JOYY on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About JOYY

JOYY Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates social media platforms that offer users engaging and experience across various video-based social platforms. It operates through two segments, BIGO and All Other. The company operates Bigo Live, a social live streaming platform, that provides an interactive online stage for users to host and watch live streaming sessions, share their life moments, showcase their talents, and interact with people worldwide; Likee, a short-form video social platform, which enables users to discover, create, and share short videos, with video creation tools and personalized feeds; imo, an instant messenger platform, that provides audio and video communication services; Hago, a social networking platform that offers casual games integrating social features, such as audio and video multi-user chatrooms and 3D virtual interactive party games; and Shopline, a smart commerce platform, that provides solutions and services to enable merchants in creating and growing their brands online and reach customers through various sales channels, including e-commerce platforms, social commerce, and physical retail stores. It operates in the People's Republic of China, the United States, the Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and internationally. 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.