Comparing Autohome (ATHM) and The Competition

Autohome (NYSE:ATHM) is one of 192 public companies in the “Interactive Media & Services” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Autohome to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Dividends

Autohome pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. Autohome pays out 158.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Interactive Media & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 17.7% and pay out 4.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Autohome lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Autohome and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Autohome	$922.63 million	$225.19 million	18.66
Autohome Competitors	$12.05 billion	$3.48 billion	21.49

Autohome’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Autohome. Autohome is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

63.1% of Autohome shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.1% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 5.7% of Autohome shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.0% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Autohome and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Autohome	17.05%	4.44%	3.53%
Autohome Competitors	-349.35%	-22.60%	4.06%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Autohome and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Autohome	1	4	1	1	2.29
Autohome Competitors	1437	6002	11538	441	2.57

Autohome presently has a consensus price target of $19.95, indicating a potential downside of 7.85%. As a group, “Interactive Media & Services” companies have a potential upside of 31.78%. Given Autohome’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Autohome has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Volatility and Risk

Autohome has a beta of 0.36, suggesting that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Autohome’s peers have a beta of 1.82, suggesting that their average stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Autohome peers beat Autohome on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About Autohome

Autohome Inc. operates as an online destination for automobile consumers in the People’s Republic of China. The company delivers interactive content and tools to automobile consumers through its three websites, autohome.com.cn, che168.com, and ttpai.cn on PCs, mobile devices, mobile applications, and mini apps. It provides media services, including automaker advertising services and regional marketing campaigns; and leads generation services comprising dealer subscription services, advertising services for individual dealers, and used automobile listing and other platform-based services. The company offers Autohome Mall, an online transaction platform; and online bidding platform for used automobiles, as well as collects commissions for facilitating transactions of auto-financing and insurance products on its platform. The company was formerly known as Sequel Limited and changed its name to Autohome Inc. in October 2011. Autohome Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.