Head to Head Contrast: USA Today (NYSE:TDAY) vs. TechTarget (NASDAQ:TTGT)

USA Today (NYSE:TDAY) and TechTarget (NASDAQ:TTGT) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares USA Today and TechTarget’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
USA Today	-1.81%	-21.13%	-1.85%
TechTarget	-36.85%	-0.62%	-0.38%

Risk and Volatility

USA Today has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TechTarget has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for USA Today and TechTarget, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
USA Today	1	1	2	0	2.25
TechTarget	1	0	2	0	2.33

USA Today currently has a consensus target price of $9.03, indicating a potential upside of 57.23%. TechTarget has a consensus target price of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 137.04%. Given TechTarget’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TechTarget is more favorable than USA Today.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares USA Today and TechTarget”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
USA Today	$2.23 billion	0.38	$1.75 million	($0.30)	-19.13
TechTarget	$485.16 million	0.50	-$1.01 billion	($2.45)	-1.38

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.7% of USA Today shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of TechTarget shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of USA Today shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of TechTarget shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

TechTarget beats USA Today on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About USA Today

Gannett Co Inc. invests in, owns, and operates local media assets in the United States. The company’s principal products include 125 daily newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 1.4 million; 314 weekly newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 315,000 and total free circulation of approximately 1.9 million; 124 shoppers with total circulation of approximately 3.0 million; and 538 locally-focused Websites, including Internet and mobile devices with approximately 224 million page views per month. Its principal products also comprise 2 yellow page directories with a total distribution of approximately 230,000 that cover a population of approximately 411,000 people; 68 business publications; and Propel digital marketing and business services. In addition, the company produces niche publications that address specific local market interests, such as recreation, sports, healthcare, and real estate. Further, it provides print and online products that offer local market news and information on various topics comprising local news and politics, community and regional events, youth sports, opinion and editorial pages, local schools, obituaries, weddings, and police reports, as well as print and digital advertising products, as well as commercial printing and regional business-oriented publications services. The company reaches approximately 20 million people per week; and serves approximately 220,000 business customers. New Media Investment Group Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.

About TechTarget

TechTarget, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marketing and sales services that deliver business impact for business-to-business technology companies in North America and internationally. The company's service enables technology vendors to identify, reach, and influence corporate information technology (IT) decision-makers actively researching specific IT purchases; and customized marketing programs that integrate demand generation, brand advertising techniques, and content curation and creation. It offers business to business services, such as IT Deal Alert, a suite of data, software, and services comprising Priority Engine and Qualified Sales Opportunities to identify and prioritize accounts and individuals actively researching new technology purchases or upgrades; demand solutions provides marketing programs, including white papers, webcasts, podcasts, videocasts, virtual trade shows, and content sponsorships; brand solutions which includes on-network banner advertising and digital sponsorships, off-network banner targeting, and microsites and related formats; custom content creation that delivers market insights and guidance to technology companies and off-the-shelf editorial sponsorship products on topics aligned to customer markets; and BrightTALK platform which allows customers to create, host and promote webinars, virtual events, and video content. In addition, the company operates websites, webinars, and virtual event channels that focus on a specific IT sector, such as storage, security, or networking; and enables registered members to conduct their pre-purchase research by accessing vendor supplied content through its virtual event and webinar channels, and website networks. TechTarget, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.