Lucas GC (NASDAQ:LGCL) vs. Amplitude (NASDAQ:AMPL) Critical Analysis

Lucas GC (NASDAQ:LGCL) and Amplitude (NASDAQ:AMPL) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Lucas GC and Amplitude, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lucas GC	1	0	0	0	1.00
Amplitude	1	1	9	0	2.73

Amplitude has a consensus price target of $12.44, indicating a potential upside of 95.67%. Given Amplitude’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Amplitude is more favorable than Lucas GC.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.2% of Amplitude shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.6% of Amplitude shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lucas GC and Amplitude”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lucas GC	$1.04 billion	0.08	$1.40 million	N/A	N/A
Amplitude	$356.75 million	1.85	-$88.54 million	($0.67)	-9.49

Lucas GC has higher revenue and earnings than Amplitude.

Volatility & Risk

Lucas GC has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amplitude has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Lucas GC and Amplitude’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lucas GC	N/A	N/A	N/A
Amplitude	-25.11%	-34.98%	-20.46%

Summary

Amplitude beats Lucas GC on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lucas GC

Lucas GC Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides online agent-centric human capital management services based on platform-as-a-service (PaaS) in the People’s Republic of China. Its Star Career and Columbus platforms enables registered users to receive customized job recommendations and work as talent scouts to source suitable candidates for its corporate customers through their social network, as well as receive trainings and other value-added services. The company’s platform provides permanent and flexible employment recruitment services; outsourcing services primarily for technology-related projects to design, develop, and deliver the projects within budget and on time with acceptable quality; information technology services to generate sales leads for its corporate customers; and training services comprising career-related certification programs. In addition, it engages in the media and entertainment business, as well as provides management consulting services. Lucas GC Limited was founded in 2011 and is based in Beijing, China. Lucas GC Limited operates as a subsidiary of HTL Lucky Holding Limited.

About Amplitude

Amplitude, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides a digital analytics platform that analyzes customer behavior in the United States and internationally. It offers Amplitude Analytics, which provides real-time product data and reconstructed user visits; Amplitude Experiment, a solution that allows teams to test new capabilities and safely roll out new features; Amplitude CDP, an insight-driven solution that encompasses the data infrastructure, audience management, and data streaming capabilities; and Amplitude Session Replay used by product, marketing, and data teams to understand user behavior, diagnose product issues, and improve product outcomes. The company also provides customer support services related to initial implementation setup, ongoing support, and application training. It delivers its application over the Internet as a subscription service using a software-as-a-service model. The company was formerly known as Sonalight, Inc. and changed its name to Amplitude, Inc. in December 2014. Amplitude, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.