Analyzing Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) & Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE:STG)

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) and Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE:STG) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.8% of Trade Desk shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.4% of Sunlands Technology Group shares are held by institutional investors. 10.0% of Trade Desk shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 59.7% of Sunlands Technology Group 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Trade Desk and Sunlands Technology Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Trade Desk	$2.44 billion	7.02	$393.08 million	$0.87	40.78
Sunlands Technology Group	$272.66 million	0.28	$46.87 million	$3.98	1.42

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Trade Desk and Sunlands Technology Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Trade Desk	2	15	21	1	2.54
Sunlands Technology Group	1	0	0	0	1.00

Trade Desk currently has a consensus target price of $67.62, suggesting a potential upside of 90.58%. Given Trade Desk’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Trade Desk is more favorable than Sunlands Technology Group.

Profitability

This table compares Trade Desk and Sunlands Technology Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Trade Desk	15.72%	16.00%	7.40%
Sunlands Technology Group	18.99%	52.03%	18.14%

Volatility and Risk

Trade Desk has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sunlands Technology Group has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Trade Desk beats Sunlands Technology Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Trade Desk

The Trade Desk, Inc. operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices. It provides data and other value-added services. The company serves advertising agencies, brands, and other service providers for advertisers. The Trade Desk, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Ventura, California.

About Sunlands Technology Group

Sunlands Technology Group, through its subsidiaries, provides online education services through online and mobile platforms in the People's Republic of China. It offers various degree- and diploma-oriented post-secondary courses, including preparation courses for the self-taught higher education examination (STE) for learners pursuing associate diplomas or bachelor's degrees, as well as for the entrance examinations of Master of Business Administration programs. The company's STE courses include Chinese language and literature, law, pre-school education, marketing, English, human resource management, business administration, business management, modern corporate governance, financial management, advertising, accounting, administrative management, computer information management, finance, chain operation management, and visual communication and design and production. It also provides professional certification preparation courses in various industries and professions, such as accounting, human resources, teaching, and finance. In addition, the company offers education services through online and mobile platforms to adult students, pursuing post-secondary, and professional educations. The company was formerly known as Sunlands Online Education Group and changed its name to Sunlands Technology Group in August 2018. Sunlands Technology Group was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.