Head to Head Comparison: NerdWallet (NASDAQ:NRDS) and Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK)

NerdWallet (NASDAQ:NRDS) and Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for NerdWallet and Shutterstock, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NerdWallet	1	4	3	0	2.25
Shutterstock	1	1	1	0	2.00

NerdWallet presently has a consensus price target of $11.40, suggesting a potential upside of 45.78%. Shutterstock has a consensus price target of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 136.09%. Given Shutterstock’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Shutterstock is more favorable than NerdWallet.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

38.8% of NerdWallet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Shutterstock shares are held by institutional investors. 52.7% of NerdWallet shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 32.3% of Shutterstock shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

NerdWallet has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shutterstock has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NerdWallet and Shutterstock”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NerdWallet	$836.60 million	0.60	$48.70 million	$0.78	10.03
Shutterstock	$989.92 million	0.11	$45.50 million	($11.37)	-0.26

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

Profitability

This table compares NerdWallet and Shutterstock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NerdWallet	7.56%	18.07%	14.41%
Shutterstock	-22.87%	13.61%	5.49%

Summary

NerdWallet beats Shutterstock on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NerdWallet

NerdWallet, Inc. operates a digital platform that provides consumer-driven advice about personal finance by connecting individuals and small and mid-sized businesses with financial products providers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Its platform offers guidance to consumers through educational content, tools and calculators, and product marketplaces, as well as through NerdWallet app for various financial products, including credit cards, mortgages, insurance, SMB products, personal loans, banking, investing, and student loans. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in San Francisco, California.

About Shutterstock

Shutterstock, Inc. provides platform to connect brands and businesses to high quality content in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers image services consisting of photographs, vectors, and illustrations, which is used in visual communications, such as websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications, and others; footage services, including video clips, filmed by industry experts and cinema grade video effects in HD and 4K formats that are integrated into websites, social media, marketing campaigns, and cinematic productions; and music services comprising music tracks and sound effects, which are used to complement images and footage. It also provides 3 dimensional models consisting of 3D models used in various industries, such as advertising, media and video production, gaming, retail, education, design, and architecture; and generative AI content comprising images generated from algorithms trained with ethically sourced content. The company offers its services under the Shutterstock, Pond5, TurboSquid, PicMonkey, PremiumBeat, Splash News, Bigstock, and Offset brand names. In addition, it operates a collection of graphics interchange format visuals and stickers that supplies casual conversational content. The company serves corporate professionals and organizations, media and broadcast companies, and small and medium-sized businesses, and individual creators through digital, live sales, and client management channels. Shutterstock, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in New York, New York.