Contrasting NerdWallet (NASDAQ:NRDS) & Vivid Seats (NASDAQ:SEAT)

Vivid Seats (NASDAQ:SEAT) and NerdWallet (NASDAQ:NRDS) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

39.9% of Vivid Seats shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.8% of NerdWallet shares are owned by institutional investors. 60.5% of Vivid Seats shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 52.7% of NerdWallet shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Vivid Seats and NerdWallet, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vivid Seats	2	6	2	0	2.00
NerdWallet	1	3	4	0	2.38

Vivid Seats currently has a consensus target price of $10.27, suggesting a potential upside of 163.59%. NerdWallet has a consensus target price of $12.83, suggesting a potential upside of 57.56%. Given Vivid Seats’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Vivid Seats is more favorable than NerdWallet.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vivid Seats and NerdWallet”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vivid Seats	$518.83 million	0.08	-$429.30 million	($45.51)	-0.09
NerdWallet	$836.60 million	0.62	$48.70 million	$0.89	9.15

NerdWallet has higher revenue and earnings than Vivid Seats. Vivid Seats is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NerdWallet, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Vivid Seats and NerdWallet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vivid Seats	-60.26%	-211.26%	0.91%
NerdWallet	7.56%	18.07%	14.41%

Volatility and Risk

Vivid Seats has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NerdWallet has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NerdWallet beats Vivid Seats on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vivid Seats

Vivid Seats Inc. operates an online ticket marketplace in the United States, Canada, and Japan. The company operates in two segments, Marketplace and Resale. The Marketplace segment acts as an intermediary between event ticket buyers and sellers; processes ticket sales on its website and mobile applications through its distribution partners; and sells tickets for sports, concerts, theater events, and other live events. This segment offers Skybox, a proprietary enterprise resource planning tool that helps ticket sellers manage ticket inventories, adjust pricing, and fulfill orders across multiple ticket resale marketplaces; and Vivid Picks daily fantasy sports that allows users to partake in contests by making picks from various sport and player matchups. The Resale segment acquires tickets to resell on secondary ticket marketplaces; and provides internal research and development support for Skybox and to deliver seller software and tools. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About NerdWallet

NerdWallet, Inc. operates a digital platform that provides consumer-driven advice about personal finance by connecting individuals and small and mid-sized businesses with financial products providers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Its platform offers guidance to consumers through educational content, tools and calculators, and product marketplaces, as well as through NerdWallet app for various financial products, including credit cards, mortgages, insurance, SMB products, personal loans, banking, investing, and student loans. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in San Francisco, California.