Analyzing JOYY (NASDAQ:YY) & Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH)

JOYY (NASDAQ:YY) and Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) are both mid-cap communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for JOYY and Match Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JOYY	0	0	3	0	3.00
Match Group	0	9	6	1	2.50

JOYY presently has a consensus price target of $66.00, suggesting a potential downside of 10.35%. Match Group has a consensus price target of $41.54, suggesting a potential upside of 7.36%. Given Match Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Match Group is more favorable than JOYY.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares JOYY and Match Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
JOYY	$2.24 billion	1.77	$301.82 million	($3.10)	-23.75
Match Group	$3.49 billion	2.55	$613.45 million	$2.83	13.67

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

Profitability

This table compares JOYY and Match Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JOYY	9.02%	4.64%	2.96%
Match Group	20.17%	-324.82%	17.36%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.8% of JOYY shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.1% of Match Group shares are held by institutional investors. 43.0% of JOYY shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Match Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

JOYY pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Match Group pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. JOYY pays out -120.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Match Group pays out 28.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. JOYY is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

JOYY has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Match Group has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Match Group beats JOYY on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About JOYY

JOYY Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates social media platforms that offer users engaging and experience across various video-based social platforms. It operates through two segments, BIGO and All Other. The company operates Bigo Live, a social live streaming platform, that provides an interactive online stage for users to host and watch live streaming sessions, share their life moments, showcase their talents, and interact with people worldwide; Likee, a short-form video social platform, which enables users to discover, create, and share short videos, with video creation tools and personalized feeds; imo, an instant messenger platform, that provides audio and video communication services; Hago, a social networking platform that offers casual games integrating social features, such as audio and video multi-user chatrooms and 3D virtual interactive party games; and Shopline, a smart commerce platform, that provides solutions and services to enable merchants in creating and growing their brands online and reach customers through various sales channels, including e-commerce platforms, social commerce, and physical retail stores. It operates in the People's Republic of China, the United States, the Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and internationally. The company was formerly known as YY Inc. and changed its name to JOYY Inc. in December 2019. JOYY Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Match Group

Match Group, Inc. engages in the provision of dating products. Its portfolio of brands includes Tinder, Hinge, Match, Meetic, OkCupid, Pairs, Plenty Of Fish, Azar, BLK, and Hakuna, as well as a various other brands, each built to increase users' likelihood of connecting with others. Its services are available in over 40 languages to users worldwide. The company was incorporated in 1986 and is based in Dallas, Texas.