Critical Comparison: Shutterstock (SSTK) versus Its Peers

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) is one of 192 publicly-traded companies in the “Interactive Media & Services” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Shutterstock to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Shutterstock has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shutterstock’s peers have a beta of 1.88, suggesting that their average share price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Shutterstock and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shutterstock	$989.92 million	$45.50 million	-0.26
Shutterstock Competitors	$12.05 billion	$3.48 billion	7.96

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.8% of Shutterstock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.1% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 32.3% of Shutterstock shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.0% of shares of all “Interactive Media & Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Shutterstock and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shutterstock	-22.87%	13.61%	5.49%
Shutterstock Competitors	-349.71%	-23.08%	3.97%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Shutterstock and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shutterstock	1	1	1	0	2.00
Shutterstock Competitors	1446	6030	11560	443	2.56

Shutterstock presently has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 136.09%. As a group, “Interactive Media & Services” companies have a potential upside of 31.36%. Given Shutterstock’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Shutterstock is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

Shutterstock peers beat Shutterstock on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

Shutterstock Company Profile

Shutterstock, Inc. provides platform to connect brands and businesses to high quality content in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers image services consisting of photographs, vectors, and illustrations, which is used in visual communications, such as websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications, and others; footage services, including video clips, filmed by industry experts and cinema grade video effects in HD and 4K formats that are integrated into websites, social media, marketing campaigns, and cinematic productions; and music services comprising music tracks and sound effects, which are used to complement images and footage. It also provides 3 dimensional models consisting of 3D models used in various industries, such as advertising, media and video production, gaming, retail, education, design, and architecture; and generative AI content comprising images generated from algorithms trained with ethically sourced content. The company offers its services under the Shutterstock, Pond5, TurboSquid, PicMonkey, PremiumBeat, Splash News, Bigstock, and Offset brand names. In addition, it operates a collection of graphics interchange format visuals and stickers that supplies casual conversational content. The company serves corporate professionals and organizations, media and broadcast companies, and small and medium-sized businesses, and individual creators through digital, live sales, and client management channels. Shutterstock, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in New York, New York.