Comparing Direct Digital (DRCT) and Its Rivals

Direct Digital (NASDAQ:DRCT) is one of 257 publicly-traded companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Direct Digital to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Direct Digital and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Direct Digital	$30.91 million	-$18.95 million	-0.00
Direct Digital Competitors	$999.49 million	$8.18 million	4.64

Direct Digital’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Direct Digital. Direct Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Direct Digital and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Direct Digital	-74.38%	N/A	-68.48%
Direct Digital Competitors	-16.60%	-68.57%	-4.64%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Direct Digital and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Direct Digital	1	0	0	0	1.00
Direct Digital Competitors	2311	6877	10711	485	2.46

As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 25.42%. Given Direct Digital’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Direct Digital has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Volatility & Risk

Direct Digital has a beta of 5.33, suggesting that its share price is 433% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Direct Digital’s competitors have a beta of 0.94, suggesting that their average share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

4.0% of Direct Digital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.8% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 25.6% of Direct Digital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.6% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Direct Digital competitors beat Direct Digital on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

About Direct Digital

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. operates as an end-to-end full-service programmatic advertising platform. The company's platform primarily focuses on providing advertising technology, data-driven campaign optimization, and other solutions to underserved and less efficient markets on both the buy- and sell-side of the digital advertising ecosystem. It serves various industry verticals, such as travel, healthcare, education, financial services, consumer products, and other sectors with a focus on small and mid-sized businesses. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.