Head to Head Review: USA Today (NYSE:TDAY) and Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD)

USA Today (NYSE:TDAY) and Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

USA Today has a beta of 1.35, meaning that its share price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Trade Desk has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.7% of USA Today shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.8% of Trade Desk shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of USA Today shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.4% of Trade Desk shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for USA Today and Trade Desk, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
USA Today	1	1	2	0	2.25
Trade Desk	10	25	4	0	1.85

USA Today currently has a consensus target price of $9.03, suggesting a potential upside of 44.63%. Trade Desk has a consensus target price of $19.39, suggesting a potential upside of 39.29%. Given USA Today’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe USA Today is more favorable than Trade Desk.

Profitability

This table compares USA Today and Trade Desk’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
USA Today	-1.81%	-21.13%	-1.85%
Trade Desk	13.61%	16.09%	6.90%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares USA Today and Trade Desk”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
USA Today	$2.30 billion	0.40	$1.75 million	($0.30)	-20.80
Trade Desk	$2.90 billion	2.26	$443.30 million	$0.84	16.57

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

Summary

Trade Desk beats USA Today on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About USA Today

Gannett Co Inc. invests in, owns, and operates local media assets in the United States. The company’s principal products include 125 daily newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 1.4 million; 314 weekly newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 315,000 and total free circulation of approximately 1.9 million; 124 shoppers with total circulation of approximately 3.0 million; and 538 locally-focused Websites, including Internet and mobile devices with approximately 224 million page views per month. Its principal products also comprise 2 yellow page directories with a total distribution of approximately 230,000 that cover a population of approximately 411,000 people; 68 business publications; and Propel digital marketing and business services. In addition, the company produces niche publications that address specific local market interests, such as recreation, sports, healthcare, and real estate. Further, it provides print and online products that offer local market news and information on various topics comprising local news and politics, community and regional events, youth sports, opinion and editorial pages, local schools, obituaries, weddings, and police reports, as well as print and digital advertising products, as well as commercial printing and regional business-oriented publications services. The company reaches approximately 20 million people per week; and serves approximately 220,000 business customers. New Media Investment Group Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.

About Trade Desk

The Trade Desk, Inc. operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices. It provides data and other value-added services. The company serves advertising agencies, brands, and other service providers for advertisers. The Trade Desk, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Ventura, California.