Contrasting TechTarget (NASDAQ:TTGT) and Publicis Groupe (OTCMKTS:PUBGY)

TechTarget (NASDAQ:TTGT) and Publicis Groupe (OTCMKTS:PUBGY) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.5% of TechTarget shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of Publicis Groupe shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of TechTarget shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Publicis Groupe shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

TechTarget has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Publicis Groupe has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares TechTarget and Publicis Groupe’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TechTarget	-113.65%	5.19%	3.18%
Publicis Groupe	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for TechTarget and Publicis Groupe, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TechTarget	1	0	2	0	2.33
Publicis Groupe	0	1	0	4	3.60

TechTarget presently has a consensus target price of $11.50, indicating a potential upside of 219.44%. Given TechTarget’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe TechTarget is more favorable than Publicis Groupe.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares TechTarget and Publicis Groupe”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TechTarget	$486.79 million	0.53	-$1.01 billion	($7.73)	-0.47
Publicis Groupe	$19.68 billion	1.30	$1.87 billion	N/A	N/A

Publicis Groupe has higher revenue and earnings than TechTarget.

Summary

Publicis Groupe beats TechTarget on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe S.A. provides marketing, communications, and digital business transformation services in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. The company offers advisory services for brand strategy, and repositioning and their identity under the Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Marcel, Fallon, and BBH brands; online advertising services under the Razorfish and Moxie brand names; crisis communications, press relations, public affairs, institutional relations, financial communications, and strategy management services; media consulting, planning, and buying services; performance marketing services; and e-commerce services. It also designs and delivers brand content for various channels, such as television, print, radio, cinema, and billboards, as well as digital, including display and social networks under the Prodigious, Harbor, and The Pub brand names. In addition, the company operates Epsilon PeopleCloud, a unified data and technology platform; and Publicis Sapient, a technological, digital, and consulting platform. Further, it provides healthcare communication services under the Digitas Health, Publicis Health Media, and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness brands for the healthcare and well-being sectors. It serves clients in the automotive, retail, financial services, consumer products, and media sectors. Publicis Groupe S.A. was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Paris, France.