Contrasting Harte Hanks (HHS) & Its Rivals

Harte Hanks (NASDAQ:HHS) is one of 259 publicly-traded companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Harte Hanks to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Harte Hanks has a beta of -0.03, indicating that its share price is 103% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harte Hanks’ competitors have a beta of 1.02, indicating that their average share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Harte Hanks and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Harte Hanks	-0.67%	-5.06%	-1.13%
Harte Hanks Competitors	-19.40%	-47.74%	-5.28%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.8% of Harte Hanks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.7% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by institutional investors. 9.6% of Harte Hanks shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.9% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Harte Hanks and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Harte Hanks	$159.57 million	-$810,000.00	-17.50
Harte Hanks Competitors	$3.19 billion	-$23.60 million	13.39

Harte Hanks’ competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Harte Hanks. Harte Hanks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Harte Hanks and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Harte Hanks	1	0	0	0	1.00
Harte Hanks Competitors	2192	6813	10763	467	2.47

As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 14.95%. Given Harte Hanks’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Harte Hanks has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Harte Hanks competitors beat Harte Hanks on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About Harte Hanks

Harte-Hanks, Inc. engages in the provision of marketing solutions. It specializes in consulting, data analytics, creative services, digital and social media, marketing strategy, marketing technology, and other related services. It supports a range of customers in the field of technology, travel and leisure, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, automotive, finance, and retail. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in San Antonio, TX.