Head-To-Head Survey: Harte Hanks (HHS) versus The Competition

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

Earnings and Valuation

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	-5.71
Harte Hanks Competitors	$2.97 billion	-$7.90 million	17.59

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 breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Harte Hanks and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Harte Hanks	1	0	0	0	1.00
Harte Hanks Competitors	2232	6852	10808	474	2.47

As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 20.79%. Given Harte Hanks’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Harte Hanks has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Risk and Volatility

Harte Hanks has a beta of -0.03, meaning that its stock price is 103% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harte Hanks’ competitors have a beta of 0.93, meaning that their average stock price is 7% less 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	-3.70%	-30.14%	-6.30%
Harte Hanks Competitors	-20.08%	-48.65%	-5.12%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

33.8% of Harte Hanks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.8% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by institutional investors. 9.6% of Harte Hanks shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Harte Hanks competitors beat Harte Hanks on 10 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.