Emerald (NYSE:EEX – Get Free Report) and Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
14.9% of Emerald shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.6% of Research Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 11.5% of Emerald shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.5% of Research Solutions 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.
Risk and Volatility
Emerald has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Research Solutions has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Emerald | $382.80 million | 3.12 | -$8.20 million | ($0.75) | -7.81 |
| Research Solutions | $37.70 million | 2.35 | $570,000.00 | ($0.03) | -91.67 |
Research Solutions has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Emerald. Research Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Emerald, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Emerald and Research Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Emerald | -1.09% | -59.12% | -0.40% |
| Research Solutions | -1.39% | -5.58% | -1.88% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Emerald and Research Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Emerald | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Research Solutions | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
Emerald currently has a consensus target price of $8.20, suggesting a potential upside of 39.93%. Research Solutions has a consensus target price of $5.12, suggesting a potential upside of 86.06%. Given Research Solutions’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Research Solutions is more favorable than Emerald.
Summary
Research Solutions beats Emerald on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Emerald
Emerald Holding, Inc. operates business-to-business (B2B) trade shows in the United States. The company provides B2B trade show franchises; and B2B print publications and digital media products, which provide industry specific business news and information across various sectors. It also offers B2B e-commerce and digital merchandising solutions to manufacturers and retailers through Elastic Suite and Bulletin platforms. The company serves retail, design, technology, equipment, and safety and security. Emerald Holding, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
About Research Solutions
Research Solutions, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based software-as-a-service research platform. The company is also involved in the transactional sale of published scientific, technical, and medical (STM) content managed, sourced, and delivered through the Transactions platform. Its solutions enable life science and other research intensive organizations to accelerate their research and development activities with access and management STM articles used throughout the intellectual property development lifecycle. The company was formerly known as Derycz Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Research Solutions, Inc. in March 2013. Research Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Henderson, Nevada.
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