Financial Survey: Bright Mountain Media (OTCMKTS:BMTM) versus HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM)

Bright Mountain Media (OTCMKTS:BMTM) and HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

69.6% of HealthStream shares are owned by institutional investors. 61.6% of Bright Mountain Media shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.6% of HealthStream shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Bright Mountain Media has a beta of 125.04, meaning that its share price is 12,404% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HealthStream has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Bright Mountain Media and HealthStream’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bright Mountain Media	-23.00%	N/A	-34.88%
HealthStream	6.03%	5.98%	4.14%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bright Mountain Media and HealthStream”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bright Mountain Media	$56.68 million	0.01	-$17.02 million	($0.08)	-0.05
HealthStream	$304.06 million	2.10	$18.34 million	$0.61	35.21

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Bright Mountain Media and HealthStream, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bright Mountain Media	0	0	0	0	0.00
HealthStream	0	3	0	0	2.00

HealthStream has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.39%. Given HealthStream’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe HealthStream is more favorable than Bright Mountain Media.

Summary

HealthStream beats Bright Mountain Media on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bright Mountain Media

Bright Mountain Media, Inc. provides an end-to-end digital media and advertising services platform that connects brands with targeted consumer demographics in the United States and Israel. It focuses on digital publishing comprising websites, including Mom.com, Cafemom.com, LittleThings.com, and MamasLatinas.com; and advertising technology, consumer insights, creative, and media services. The company serves advertisers, advertising agencies and advertising service organizations. The company was formerly known as Bright Mountain Acquisition Corporation and changed its name to Bright Mountain Media, Inc. in December 2015. Bright Mountain Media, Inc. is based in Boca Raton, Florida.

About HealthStream

HealthStream, Inc. provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based applications for healthcare organizations in the United States. The company’s solutions help healthcare organizations in meeting their ongoing clinical development, talent management, training, education, assessment, competency management, safety and compliance, and scheduling, as well as provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment needs. It offers hStream, a technology platform that powers a range of healthcare workforce solutions. The company provides its solutions to customers across a range of entities within the healthcare industry, including private, not-for-profit, and government entities, as well as pharmaceutical and medical device companies through its direct sales teams. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.