Head-To-Head Review: QuoteMedia (OTCMKTS:QMCI) vs. Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD)

QuoteMedia (OTCMKTS:QMCI) and Ziff Davis (NASDAQ:ZD) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

QuoteMedia has a beta of 0.06, meaning that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ziff Davis has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares QuoteMedia and Ziff Davis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
QuoteMedia	-9.06%	N/A	-34.83%
Ziff Davis	49.46%	9.36%	4.84%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares QuoteMedia and Ziff Davis”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
QuoteMedia	$20.25 million	0.71	-$2.32 million	($0.02)	-7.92
Ziff Davis	$1.45 billion	1.17	$47.35 million	$17.67	2.81

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.8% of Ziff Davis shares are held by institutional investors. 47.1% of QuoteMedia shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Ziff Davis shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for QuoteMedia and Ziff Davis, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
QuoteMedia	0	1	0	0	2.00
Ziff Davis	0	6	4	0	2.40

Ziff Davis has a consensus price target of $60.67, indicating a potential upside of 22.29%. Given Ziff Davis’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ziff Davis is more favorable than QuoteMedia.

Summary

Ziff Davis beats QuoteMedia on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About QuoteMedia

QuoteMedia, Inc. provides financial data, market research information, analytics, news feeds, and financial software solutions to online brokerages, banks, clearing firms, financial service companies, media portals, and public corporations worldwide. It collects, aggregates, and delivers delayed and real-time financial data content through the Internet. The company also offers market information and services, including streaming stock market data feeds, research and analysis information, content applications, portfolio management systems, software products, corporate investor relations provisioning, news services, mobile apps, and custom development. In addition, its data feeds coverage includes equities, options, futures, commodities, currencies, mutual funds, ETFs, and indices. Further, the company provides financial data delivery application products and components comprising quote modules, charts, market movers, news, watch lists, tickers, market summaries, option chains, filings, fundamentals, investor relations solutions, stock and fund screeners, and others; and QMod, a web delivery system for delivering market data content to Web platforms. Additionally, it offers portfolio managements systems, including Quotestream Desktop, We, and Mobile, a Web-delivered, embedded application providing real-time, tick-by-tick, streaming market quotes and research information; Quotestream Professional that offers low-latency tick-by-tick data, customizable screens, advanced charting, comprehensive technical analysis, news, and research data for financial services professionals; Web Portfolio Manager, which provides immediate web access to detailed quote data, market and company news, charting, depth/level II, filings, historical data, snap quotes, and others; and Quotestream Connect that delivers real time data feeds to individual users to power third party applications. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

About Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media and internet company in the United States and internationally. The company offers PCMag, an online resource for laboratory-based product reviews, technology news, buying guides, and research papers; Mashable for publishing technology and culture content; Spiceworks Ziff Davis provides digital content of IT products and services; retailMeNot, a savings destination platform; Offers.com, a coupon and deals website; and event-based properties, including BlackFriday.com, TheBlackFriday.com, BestBlackFriday.com, and DealsofAmerica.com. It also offers gaming and entertainment content under the IGN Entertainment and Humble Bundle brands; and information on internet connectivity under the Ookla, Ekahau, Downdetector, and RootMetrics brands. The company also offers digital content and information services for health and wellness consumers under the Everyday Health, DailyOM, Lose It!, Diabetes Daily, Castle Connolly, and Migraine Again brands; pregnancy and parenting content under the BabyCenter, Emma's Diary, and What to Expect brands; and Medpage Today that delivers medical news. In addition, the company offers PRIME Education, a medical education program for healthcare professionals; and Health eCareers, a digital portal for healthcare professionals. Further, it provides endpoint and email security, security awareness training, secure backup and file sharing, and virtual private network solutions under the IPVanish, VIPRE, Livedrive, Inspired eLearning, and SugarSync brands; and email marketing and delivery solutions, search engine optimization tools, and voice and text communication services under the Campaigner, iContact, SMTP, Kickbox, MOZ Pro, MOZ Local, Stat Analytics, eVoice, and Line2 brands. The company was formerly known as j2 Global, Inc. and changed its name to Ziff Davis, Inc. in October 2021. Ziff Davis, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York.