Comparing Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU) and Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) and Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Sprout Social and Sohu.com, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sprout Social	2	5	4	0	2.18
Sohu.com	0	1	2	0	2.67

Sprout Social presently has a consensus target price of $13.22, indicating a potential upside of 81.00%. Sohu.com has a consensus target price of $19.00, indicating a potential upside of 40.11%. Given Sprout Social’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Sprout Social is more favorable than Sohu.com.

Volatility & Risk

Sprout Social has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sohu.com has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sprout Social and Sohu.com”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sprout Social	$457.55 million	0.96	-$43.33 million	($0.66)	-11.07
Sohu.com	$589.97 million	0.60	$394.10 million	$7.84	1.73

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

Profitability

This table compares Sprout Social and Sohu.com’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sprout Social	-8.18%	-13.90%	-5.72%
Sohu.com	35.19%	20.92%	14.76%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.0% of Sohu.com shares are held by institutional investors. 9.6% of Sprout Social shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.1% of Sohu.com shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Sohu.com beats Sprout Social on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc. designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action. It offers integrated tools, such as social engagement/response; publishing; reporting and analytics; social listening and business intelligence; reputation management; social commerce; employee advocacy; and automation and workflows. In addition, the company provides smart inbox, social customer relationship management, social monitoring and alerts, customer service tools, and automation; and centralized content planning, creation, and publishing, automated scheduling, content performance reporting, suggested content, message approval workflows, publishing permissions and governance, and content and asset libraries. Further, it offers social media; content performance, customer service and team, custom report builder, and reporting API; and market research, brand health, competitive insights, consumer trends, and product feedback; and social commerce, reputation management, employee advocacy, mobile applications, and chat bot creation and management. Additionally, the company offers professional services consisting of consulting and training services. It serves social and community management; public relations; marketing; influencer marketing; customer service and care; commerce, sales and customer acquisition; recruiting and hiring, product development, and business strategy; and small-and-medium-sized businesses, mid-market companies, enterprises, marketing agencies, government, non-profit, and educational institutions. Sprout Social, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Sohu.com

Sohu.com Limited engages in the provision of online media, video, and game products and services on personal computers (PCs) and mobile devices in China. It operates through two segments: Sohu and Changyou. The company offers online news, information, and content services through the mobile phone application Sohu News APP, mobile portal m.sohu.com, and www.sohu.com for PCs; and online video content and services through mobile phone application Sohu Video APP and tv.sohu.com, as well as ifox, a video application for PC. It also operates Focus (www.focus.cn), which provides online real estate information and services; and 17173.com website, which provides news, electronic forums, online videos, and other online game information services to game players, as well as offers mobile game distribution services. In addition, the company offers interactive online games for PCs and mobile devices. Further, it provides paid subscription and interactive broadcasting services. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.