Reviewing Oblong (NASDAQ:OBLG) and SEMrush (NYSE:SEMR)

Oblong (NASDAQ:OBLG) and SEMrush (NYSE:SEMR) are both small-cap services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

2.0% of Oblong shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.9% of SEMrush shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Oblong shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 55.6% of SEMrush shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Oblong and SEMrush, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oblong	1	0	0	0	1.00
SEMrush	1	1	0	0	1.50

Profitability

This table compares Oblong and SEMrush’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oblong	-135.92%	-55.01%	-44.02%
SEMrush	-0.31%	-0.47%	-0.32%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Oblong and SEMrush”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oblong	$2.36 million	4.15	-$4.04 million	($12.22)	-0.25
SEMrush	$376.82 million	2.86	$8.24 million	N/A	N/A

SEMrush has higher revenue and earnings than Oblong.

Risk & Volatility

Oblong has a beta of 4.08, meaning that its share price is 308% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SEMrush has a beta of 1.6, meaning that its share price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SEMrush beats Oblong on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oblong

Oblong Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides multi-stream collaboration technologies and managed services for video collaboration and network applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Collaboration Products and Managed Services. Its flagship product is Mezzanine that enables visual collaboration across multi-users, multi-screens, multi-devices, and multi-locations for video telepresence, laptop and application sharing, and whiteboard sharing and slides applications. The company also provides managed videoconferencing services; and remote service management, which provides an overlay to enterprise information technology and channel partner support organizations, as well as support and management services for customer video environments. In addition, it offers network services comprising Cloud Connect: Video that allows its customers to outsource the management of their video traffic to them and provides the customer’s office locations with a secure, dedicated video network connection to the Oblong Cloud for video communications; Cloud Connect: Converge, which offers customized multiprotocol label switching solutions; and Cloud Connect: Cross Connect that allows the customer to leverage existing carrier for the extension of a Layer 2 private line to its data center. Further, it provides professional services, such as software development, visual and interaction design, engineering, and project support services; and resells video equipment to its customers. Oblong Inc. is based in Conifer, Colorado.

About SEMrush

Semrush Holdings, Inc. develops an online visibility management software-as-a-service platform worldwide. The company enables companies to identify and reach the right audience for their content through the right channels. Its platform enables the company’s customers to understand trends and act upon insights to enhance the online visibility, and drive traffic to their websites and social media pages, as well as online listings, distribute targeted content to their customers, and measure the digital marketing campaigns. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.