Head to Head Survey: comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) & Townsquare Media (NYSE:TSQ)

Townsquare Media (NYSE:TSQ) and comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Townsquare Media and comScore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Townsquare Media	-11.82%	-5.59%	0.51%
comScore	24.01%	133.03%	24.12%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Townsquare Media and comScore”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Townsquare Media	$427.38 million	0.18	-$9.75 million	($2.88)	-1.44
comScore	$357.47 million	0.16	-$10.00 million	$4.10	0.92

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Townsquare Media and comScore, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Townsquare Media	1	1	1	0	2.00
comScore	1	1	1	0	2.00

Townsquare Media presently has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 140.44%. Given Townsquare Media’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Townsquare Media is more favorable than comScore.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.7% of Townsquare Media shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of comScore shares are held by institutional investors. 30.3% of Townsquare Media shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of comScore shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Townsquare Media has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, comScore has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Townsquare Media beats comScore on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Townsquare Media

Townsquare Media, Inc. operates as a digital media and marketing solutions company in small and medium-sized businesses. It operates through three segments: Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions, Digital Advertising, and Broadcast Advertising. The Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions segment offers website design, creation, and development, as well as hosting services; and search engine optimization, online directory optimization, e-commerce solutions, online reputation monitoring, social media management, appointment scheduling, payment and invoice, customer management, and email and SMS marketing services. The Digital Advertising segment provides digital advertising on its owned and operated, digital programmatic advertising, and data analytics and management platform. The Broadcast Advertising segment engages in the sale of advertising on local radio stations to local, regional, and national spot advertisers, as well as national network advertisers. It also owns and operates live events, including concerts, expositions, and other experiential events; and operates local media under the WYRK.com, WJON.com, and NJ101.5.com brands, as well as national music under the XXLmag.com, TasteofCountry.com, UltimateClassicRock.com, and Loudwire.com brands. The company was formerly known as Regent Communications, Inc. and changed its name to Townsquare Media, Inc. in May 2010. Townsquare Media, Inc. is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. operates as an information and analytics company that measures audiences, consumer behavior, and advertising across media platforms in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and internationally. The company provides digital ad solutions, including Media Metrix Multi-Platform and Mobile Metrix, which measure websites and applications on computers, smartphones, and tablets; Video Metrix that delivers measurement of digital video consumption; Plan Metrix, which offers understanding of consumer lifestyle; Total Home Panel Suite, which capture OTT, connected TV, and IOT device usage and content consumption; CCR, which enhances validated campaign essentials verification of mobile and desktop video campaigns; XMedia Enhanced, which provides a deduplicated view of national programming content; Comscore marketing solutions; Lift Models, which measures the impact of advertising on a brand; Survey Analytics, which measure various consumer insights including brand health metrics; and Activation Solutions, including audience activation and content activation. The company's cross platform solutions products and services comprises Comscore TVNational that helps customers understand the performance of network advertising campaigns; Comscore TVLocal allows customers to understand consumer viewing patterns and characteristics; OnDemand Essentials that provides transactional tracking and reporting; Movie Solutions; and Hollywood Software Suite. In addition, it offers custom solutions for planning, optimization, and evaluation of advertising campaigns and brand protection. Further, the company provides products that measure movie viewership and box office results by capturing movie ticket sales in real time or near real time. It serves digital publishers, television networks, movie studios, content owners, brand advertisers, agencies, and technology providers. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.