Contrasting Sound Group (NASDAQ:SOGP) and Reservoir Media (NASDAQ:RSVR)

Reservoir Media (NASDAQ:RSVR) and Sound Group (NASDAQ:SOGP) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.4% of Reservoir Media shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.6% of Sound Group shares are held by institutional investors. 26.0% of Reservoir Media shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.2% of Sound Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Reservoir Media and Sound Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Reservoir Media	$175.66 million	3.62	$8.30 million	$0.13	74.31
Sound Group	$3.44 billion	0.02	$32.39 million	($1.21)	-9.93

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Reservoir Media and Sound Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Reservoir Media	0	3	0	0	2.00
Sound Group	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Reservoir Media and Sound Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Reservoir Media	4.87%	2.33%	0.94%
Sound Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Reservoir Media has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sound Group has a beta of 2.45, indicating that its stock price is 145% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Reservoir Media beats Sound Group on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Reservoir Media

Reservoir Media, Inc. operates as a music publishing company. It operates through two segments, Music Publishing and Recorded Music. The Music Publishing segment acquires interests in music catalogs, as well as signs songwriters. The Recorded Music segment engages in the acquisition of sound recording catalogs; discovery and development of recording artists; and marketing, distribution, sale, and licensing of the music catalogs. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Sound Group

Sound Group Inc. operates as an audio-centric social and entertainment company. It focuses on building audio platform to connect and communicate. The company, through its product portfolio and in-house technologies, caters to user interest in audio entertainment and social networking. The company was formerly known as LIZHI INC. and changed its name to Sound Group Inc. in January 2024. Sound Group Inc. was founded in 2010 and is based in Singapore.