Data Storage (NASDAQ:DTST) & HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) Head-To-Head Survey

Data Storage (NASDAQ:DTST) and HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

11.6% of Data Storage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.6% of HealthStream shares are held by institutional investors. 43.8% of Data Storage shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of HealthStream shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Data Storage and HealthStream, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Data Storage	2	1	0	0	1.33
HealthStream	0	4	1	0	2.20

HealthStream has a consensus price target of $28.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.08%. Given HealthStream’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe HealthStream is more favorable than Data Storage.

Volatility & Risk

Data Storage has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HealthStream has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Data Storage and HealthStream’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Data Storage	81.52%	-1.13%	-0.94%
HealthStream	6.93%	5.82%	4.07%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Data Storage and HealthStream”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Data Storage	$25.37 million	1.46	$520,000.00	$2.14	2.38
HealthStream	$291.65 million	2.31	$20.01 million	$0.68	33.46

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

Summary

HealthStream beats Data Storage on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Data Storage

Data Storage Corporation provides data management and cloud solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers a suite of multi-cloud IT solutions, including cyber security solutions, which comprise ezSecurity, a security solution for endpoint security, system assessments, and risk analysis, as well as IBM system protection, including Ransomware defense. The company also provides data protection and recovery solutions, such as ezVault for offsite data protection; ezRecovery for fast data recovery; ezAvailability for real-time data replication with minimal recovery objectives; and ezMirror for data mirroring at the storage level. In addition, it offers cloud hosted production systems comprising ezHost, which delivers managed cloud services; and voice and data solutions, including Nexxis, which specializes in voice over internet protocol, internet access, and data transport solutions, which comprise dedicated internet services, SD-WAN options, and a cloud-based PBX solution. The company offers its solutions and services to businesses in healthcare, banking and finance, distribution services, manufacturing, construction, education, and government industries. Data Storage Corporation was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

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.