Head to Head Comparison: Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE:STG) and Marchex (NASDAQ:MCHX)

Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE:STG) and Marchex (NASDAQ:MCHX) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sunlands Technology Group and Marchex”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunlands Technology Group	$1.97 billion	0.02	$52.28 million	$3.86	0.85
Marchex	$45.42 million	1.68	-$5.24 million	($0.11)	-15.64

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

Volatility & Risk

Sunlands Technology Group has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marchex has a beta of 1.9, suggesting that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunlands Technology Group	18.56%	39.98%	17.58%
Marchex	-11.15%	-14.61%	-11.13%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Sunlands Technology Group and Marchex, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunlands Technology Group	1	0	0	0	1.00
Marchex	1	1	0	0	1.50

Insider & Institutional Ownership

26.4% of Sunlands Technology Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.5% of Marchex shares are owned by institutional investors. 59.7% of Sunlands Technology Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.5% of Marchex shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Sunlands Technology Group beats Marchex on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Marchex

Marchex, Inc., a conversation intelligence company, provides conversational analytics and related solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Its products include Marketing Edge that identifies which campaigns and channels are driving inbound conversations, evaluates what happens during those conversations, and closes the sales loop by connecting converted sales to marketing driven leads; Sonar Business Text Messaging, an artificial intelligence (AI) empowered intelligent workflow enabled mobile messaging solution that enables operations, sales, and marketing teams to communicate personally with field staff, prospects, and customers; Marchex Platform Services, a robust API-based conversation intelligence product that allows executives, sales, customer engagement, and marketing teams to apply Marchex AI to most any calls, regardless of communication platform, in order to identify actionable insights from conversations with their customers; Spotlight, an AI conversation analytics product for multi-location businesses; and Engage, a solution that provides locations with applications to enhance their overall performance. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.