Head-To-Head Review: Grindr (NYSE:GRND) vs. Weibo (NASDAQ:WB)

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) and Grindr (NYSE:GRND) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

68.8% of Weibo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.2% of Grindr shares are owned by institutional investors. 41.3% of Weibo shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 60.9% of Grindr shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Weibo and Grindr, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Weibo	2	3	1	0	1.83
Grindr	0	1	5	0	2.83

Weibo presently has a consensus target price of $8.80, indicating a potential upside of 25.89%. Grindr has a consensus target price of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.37%. Given Grindr’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Grindr is more favorable than Weibo.

Profitability

This table compares Weibo and Grindr’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Weibo	17.78%	8.87%	4.96%
Grindr	18.75%	357.13%	20.08%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Weibo and Grindr”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Weibo	$1.79 billion	0.96	$449.02 million	$1.21	5.78
Grindr	$439.90 million	6.16	$94.75 million	$0.50	31.16

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

Risk & Volatility

Weibo has a beta of 0.18, meaning that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grindr has a beta of 0.2, meaning that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Grindr beats Weibo on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Weibo

Weibo Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a social media platform for people to create, discover, and distribute content in the People’s Republic of China. It operates in two segments, Advertising and Marketing Services; and Value-Added Services. The company offers discovery products to help users discover content on its platform; self-expression products that enable its users to express themselves on its platform; and social products to promote social interaction between users on its platform. It also provides advertising and marketing solutions, such as social display advertisements; and promoted marketing offerings, such as Fans Headline and Weibo Express promoted feeds, as well as promoted trends and search products that appear alongside user’s trends discovery and search behaviors. In addition, the company offers products, such as trends, search, video/live streaming, and editing tools; content customization, copyright contents pooling, and user interaction development; and search list recommendation, trends list recommendation, and Weibo app opening advertisements. Further, it provides back-end management, traffic support, and product services for better displaying and promotion of its account and content; open application platform for other app developers that allows users to log into third-party applications with their Weibo account for sharing third-party content on its platform; and Weibo Wallet, a product that enables platform partners to conduct interest generation activities on Weibo, such as handing out red envelops and coupons. The company was formerly known as T.CN Corporation and changed its name to Weibo Corporation in 2012. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.

About Grindr

Grindr Inc. operates social network and dating application for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities worldwide. Its platform enables LGBTQ people to find and engage with each other, share content and experiences, and express themselves. The company offers ad-supported service and a premium subscription version. Grindr Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in West Hollywood, California.