Critical Analysis: Auddia (NASDAQ:AUUD) & Climb Global Solutions (NASDAQ:CLMB)

Climb Global Solutions (NASDAQ:CLMB) and Auddia (NASDAQ:AUUD) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Climb Global Solutions has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Auddia has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Climb Global Solutions and Auddia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Climb Global Solutions	3.01%	20.43%	5.35%
Auddia	N/A	-232.62%	-193.45%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Climb Global Solutions and Auddia”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Climb Global Solutions	$652.52 million	0.73	$21.33 million	$1.14	22.39
Auddia	N/A	N/A	-$7.69 million	($40.04)	-0.03

Climb Global Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than Auddia. Auddia is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Climb Global Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Climb Global Solutions and Auddia, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Climb Global Solutions	0	2	2	1	2.80
Auddia	1	0	0	0	1.00

Climb Global Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $31.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.43%. Given Climb Global Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Climb Global Solutions is more favorable than Auddia.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

49.7% of Climb Global Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Climb Global Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Auddia shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Climb Global Solutions beats Auddia on 14 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Climb Global Solutions

Climb Global Solutions Inc. operates as a value-added information technology (IT) distribution and solutions company in the United States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Distribution and Solutions. The company distributes technical software to corporate and value-added resellers, consultants, and systems integrators under the name Climb Channel Solutions; and provides cloud solutions and resells software, hardware, and services under the name Grey Matter. It also resells computer software and hardware developed by others, as well as provides technical services to end user customers. In addition, the company offers a line of products from various software vendors; and tools for virtualization/cloud computing, security, networking, storage and infrastructure management, application lifecycle management, and other technically sophisticated domains, as well as computer hardware. It markets its products through its own web sites, local and on-line seminars, events, webinars, and social media, as well as direct email and printed materials. The company was formerly known as Wayside Technology Group, Inc. and changed its name to Climb Global Solutions Inc. in October 2022. Climb Global Solutions Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey.

About Auddia

Auddia Inc., a technology company, develops AI Platform for the audio and podcast markets. The company's flagship product is faidr, which enables consumers to listen to various AM/FM radio station with commercial breaks replaced with personalized audio content, including popular and new music, news, and weather. It also provides Vodacast mobile app, an interactive differentiated podcasting that allows podcasters to give their audiences an interactive audio experience; and Podcast Hub, a content management system. The company was formerly known as Clip Interactive, LLC and changed its name to Auddia Inc. in November 2019. Auddia Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.