Reviewing Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and Mail Ru Group (OTCMKTS:MLRYY)

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and Mail Ru Group (OTCMKTS:MLRYY) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Upwork and Mail Ru Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Upwork	0	6	8	0	2.57
Mail Ru Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

Upwork presently has a consensus target price of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 73.85%. Given Upwork’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Upwork is more favorable than Mail Ru Group.

Volatility & Risk

Upwork has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mail Ru Group has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.7% of Upwork shares are held by institutional investors. 7.5% of Upwork shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Upwork and Mail Ru Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Upwork	14.65%	18.76%	9.03%
Mail Ru Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Upwork and Mail Ru Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Upwork	$787.78 million	2.19	$215.59 million	$0.84	15.75
Mail Ru Group	$1.59 billion	N/A	-$1.03 billion	($0.98)	-0.92

Upwork has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Mail Ru Group. Mail Ru Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Upwork, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Upwork beats Mail Ru Group on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Upwork

Upwork Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a work marketplace that connects businesses with various independent professionals and agencies in the United States, India, the Philippines, and internationally. The company’s work marketplace provides access to talent with various skills across a range of categories, including administrative support, sales and marketing, design and creative, and customer service, as well as web, mobile, and software development. Its work marketplace also enables clients to streamline workflows, such as talent sourcing, outreach, and contracting. The company’s work marketplace offers access to various functionalities for remote engagements with talent, including communication and collaboration, ability to receive talent invoices through their work marketplace, and payment protection. Its marketplace offerings include Upwork Payroll and Upwork Enterprise, as well as managed and escrow services. The company was formerly known as Elance-oDesk, Inc. and changed its name to Upwork Inc. in May 2015. Upwork Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Mail Ru Group

VK International Public Joint-Stock Company operates as a technology company in Russia and internationally. It operates through Social Platforms and Media Content, EdTech, Technologies for Business, and Ecosystem Services and Other Business Lines segments. The company’s projects include social networks, games, education, goods and services, productivity, devices, media and entertainment, app stores, messengers, social services, and ecosystem services. It also provides marketing and advertising, communications and productivity, cloud data, analytics, authorization and registration, finances, HR, and social projects solutions for businesses; cloud platforms and data management, corporate communication services, tax monitoring platform, and other corporate software solutions; and business digitizing solutions, which range from online promotion to cloud services. It enables users to communicate, play, listen to music, watch, and create videos, and receive professional training and skills. The company was formerly known as VK Company Limited and changed its name to VK International Public Joint-Stock Company in August 2023. VK International Public Joint-Stock Company was founded in 1998 and is based in Kaliningrad, Russia.