Comparing Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) and John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY)

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) and John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) are both mid-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Trade Desk and John Wiley & Sons, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Trade Desk	10	25	4	0	1.85
John Wiley & Sons	0	2	0	0	2.00

Trade Desk presently has a consensus price target of $19.36, suggesting a potential upside of 33.61%. Given Trade Desk’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Trade Desk is more favorable than John Wiley & Sons.

Volatility and Risk

Trade Desk has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, John Wiley & Sons has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.8% of Trade Desk shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of John Wiley & Sons shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.4% of Trade Desk shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.6% of John Wiley & Sons shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Trade Desk and John Wiley & Sons”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Trade Desk	$2.90 billion	2.35	$443.30 million	$0.84	17.25
John Wiley & Sons	$1.68 billion	1.50	$221.62 million	$3.78	13.13

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

Profitability

This table compares Trade Desk and John Wiley & Sons’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Trade Desk	13.61%	16.09%	6.90%
John Wiley & Sons	11.90%	27.99%	8.16%

Summary

Trade Desk beats John Wiley & Sons on 8 of the 14 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 John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. engages in the provision of research and learning materials. It operates through the following segments: Research, Learning, and Held for Sale or Sold. The Research segment consists of research publishing and research solutions. The Learning segment includes academic and professional reporting lines and consists of publishing and related knowledge solutions. The Held for Sale or Sold segment offers businesses held-for-sale including Wiley Edge and CrossKnowledge, University Services and Tuition Manager, and Test Prep and Advancement Courses. The company was founded by Charles Wiley in 1807 and is headquartered in Hoboken, NJ.