Comparing LiveRamp (NYSE:RAMP) and Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) and LiveRamp (NYSE:RAMP) are both technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.8% of LiveRamp shares are held by institutional investors. 9.6% of Sprout Social shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of LiveRamp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Sprout Social and LiveRamp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sprout Social	2	4	4	0	2.20
LiveRamp	0	6	2	0	2.25

Sprout Social currently has a consensus target price of $10.88, suggesting a potential downside of 6.01%. LiveRamp has a consensus target price of $40.21, suggesting a potential upside of 7.05%. Given LiveRamp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LiveRamp is more favorable than Sprout Social.

Risk and Volatility

Sprout Social has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LiveRamp has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sprout Social and LiveRamp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sprout Social	$457.55 million	1.53	-$43.33 million	($0.50)	-23.14
LiveRamp	$812.94 million	2.81	$145.95 million	$2.44	15.40

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

Profitability

This table compares Sprout Social and LiveRamp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sprout Social	-6.13%	-8.80%	-3.64%
LiveRamp	18.71%	9.77%	7.41%

Summary

LiveRamp beats Sprout Social on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc. designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action. It offers integrated tools, such as social engagement/response; publishing; reporting and analytics; social listening and business intelligence; reputation management; social commerce; employee advocacy; and automation and workflows. In addition, the company provides smart inbox, social customer relationship management, social monitoring and alerts, customer service tools, and automation; and centralized content planning, creation, and publishing, automated scheduling, content performance reporting, suggested content, message approval workflows, publishing permissions and governance, and content and asset libraries. Further, it offers social media; content performance, customer service and team, custom report builder, and reporting API; and market research, brand health, competitive insights, consumer trends, and product feedback; and social commerce, reputation management, employee advocacy, mobile applications, and chat bot creation and management. Additionally, the company offers professional services consisting of consulting and training services. It serves social and community management; public relations; marketing; influencer marketing; customer service and care; commerce, sales and customer acquisition; recruiting and hiring, product development, and business strategy; and small-and-medium-sized businesses, mid-market companies, enterprises, marketing agencies, government, non-profit, and educational institutions. Sprout Social, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About LiveRamp

LiveRamp Holdings, Inc., a technology company, operates a data collaboration platform in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company operates LiveRamp Data Collaboration platform enables an organization to unify customer and prospect data to build a single view of the customer in a way that protects consumer privacy. Its platform supports various people-based marketing solutions, including data collaboration, activation, measurement and analytics, identity, and data marketplace. The company sells its solutions to enterprise marketers, agencies, marketing technology providers, publishers, and data providers in various industry verticals, such as financial, insurance and investment services, retail, automotive, telecommunications, high tech, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, travel, entertainment, and non-profit. The company was formerly known as Acxiom Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to LiveRamp Holdings, Inc. in October 2018. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.