Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA) and Tucows (NASDAQ:TCX) Critical Survey

Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA) and Tucows (NASDAQ:TCX) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

10.2% of Opera shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.6% of Tucows shares are held by institutional investors. 84.4% of Opera shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.4% of Tucows shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Opera has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tucows has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Opera and Tucows’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Opera	13.93%	8.91%	7.95%
Tucows	-25.99%	N/A	-9.05%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Opera and Tucows, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Opera	1	1	4	0	2.50
Tucows	1	0	0	0	1.00

Opera presently has a consensus target price of $23.83, indicating a potential upside of 83.76%. Given Opera’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Opera is more favorable than Tucows.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Opera	$480.65 million	2.42	$80.77 million	$0.90	14.41
Tucows	$384.73 million	0.60	-$109.86 million	($8.97)	-2.32

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

Summary

Opera beats Tucows on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Opera

Opera Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile and PC web browsers and related products and services in Norway and internationally. The company offers mobile browser products, such as Opera Mini, Opera browser for Android and iOS, and Opera GX for PCs and Mobile; Opera Touch; PC browsers, including Opera for Computers and Opera GX; Apex Football; Opera VPN Pro; and Opera News, an AI-powered personalized news discovery and aggregation service. It provides Opera Crypto Browser for PCs and mobile; browser-based cashback rewards programs; owns GameMaker Studio, a 2D gaming development platform; and GXC, a gaming portal. In addition, the company operates Opera Ads, an online advertising platform; and offers Web3 and e-commerce services. Opera Limited was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Opera Limited is a subsidiary of Kunlun Tech Limited.

About Tucows

Tucows Inc. provides network access, domain name registration, email, mobile telephony, and other Internet services in North America and Europe. It operates in three segments: Ting, Wavelo and Tucows Domains. The Ting segment provides fiber and fixed wireless internet services. The Wavelo segment offers individual developer tools, subscription, billing management, network orchestration, and provisioning services. This segment also provides billing solutions under Platypus brand. The Tucows Domains segment offers name registration, as well as value added services under OpenSRS, eNom, Ascio, EPAG, and Hover brands. The company was formerly known as Infonautics, Inc. and changed its name to Tucows Inc. in August 2001. Tucows Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.