Head to Head Analysis: Vivid Seats (NASDAQ:SEAT) & Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO)

Vivid Seats (NASDAQ:SEAT) and Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Vivid Seats and Hello Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vivid Seats	2	6	2	0	2.00
Hello Group	1	1	1	0	2.00

Vivid Seats presently has a consensus target price of $10.27, suggesting a potential upside of 234.42%. Hello Group has a consensus target price of $9.05, suggesting a potential upside of 89.73%. Given Vivid Seats’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Vivid Seats is more favorable than Hello Group.

Risk & Volatility

Vivid Seats has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hello Group has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vivid Seats and Hello Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vivid Seats	$570.78 million	0.06	-$429.30 million	($45.51)	-0.07
Hello Group	$1.48 billion	0.35	$114.97 million	$0.98	4.87

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

Profitability

This table compares Vivid Seats and Hello Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vivid Seats	-60.26%	-211.26%	0.91%
Hello Group	11.02%	10.43%	8.41%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.9% of Vivid Seats shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.0% of Hello Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 60.5% of Vivid Seats shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 61.4% of Hello Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Hello Group beats Vivid Seats on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vivid Seats

Vivid Seats Inc. operates an online ticket marketplace in the United States, Canada, and Japan. The company operates in two segments, Marketplace and Resale. The Marketplace segment acts as an intermediary between event ticket buyers and sellers; processes ticket sales on its website and mobile applications through its distribution partners; and sells tickets for sports, concerts, theater events, and other live events. This segment offers Skybox, a proprietary enterprise resource planning tool that helps ticket sellers manage ticket inventories, adjust pricing, and fulfill orders across multiple ticket resale marketplaces; and Vivid Picks daily fantasy sports that allows users to partake in contests by making picks from various sport and player matchups. The Resale segment acquires tickets to resell on secondary ticket marketplaces; and provides internal research and development support for Skybox and to deliver seller software and tools. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Hello Group

Hello Group Inc. provides mobile-based social and entertainment services in the People's Republic of China. It operates in three segments: Momo, Tantan, and QOOL. The company offers Momo, a mobile application that connects people and facilitates social interactions based on location, interests, and various online recreational activities, including live talent shows, short videos, social games, as well as other video- and audio-based interactive experiences, such as online parties, mobile karaoke and user participated reality shows; Tantan, a social and dating application; and other applications under the Hertz, Soulchill, Duidui, and Tietie names. The company also provides livestream services for various content and activities comprising talent shows, such as singing, dancing, and talk shows, as well as casual chatting, and other forms of interactions between broadcasters and viewers; value-added services; advertising and marketing services; and mobile games. The company was formerly known as Momo Inc. and changed its name to Hello Group Inc. in August 2021. Hello Group Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.