Head-To-Head Analysis: HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) & QuoteMedia (OTCMKTS:QMCI)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for HealthStream and QuoteMedia, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HealthStream	0	4	1	0	2.20
QuoteMedia	0	0	0	0	0.00

HealthStream currently has a consensus target price of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 16.44%. Given HealthStream’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe HealthStream is more favorable than QuoteMedia.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

69.6% of HealthStream shares are held by institutional investors. 20.5% of HealthStream shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 47.1% of QuoteMedia shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares HealthStream and QuoteMedia”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HealthStream	$291.65 million	2.18	$20.01 million	$0.68	31.57
QuoteMedia	$18.74 million	0.68	-$1.33 million	($0.03)	-4.70

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

Risk and Volatility

HealthStream has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QuoteMedia has a beta of 0.03, meaning that its stock price is 97% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HealthStream	6.93%	5.82%	4.07%
QuoteMedia	-11.88%	N/A	-34.06%

Summary

HealthStream beats QuoteMedia on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About QuoteMedia

QuoteMedia, Inc. provides financial data, market research information, analytics, news feeds, and financial software solutions to online brokerages, banks, clearing firms, financial service companies, media portals, and public corporations worldwide. It collects, aggregates, and delivers delayed and real-time financial data content through the Internet. The company also offers market information and services, including streaming stock market data feeds, research and analysis information, content applications, portfolio management systems, software products, corporate investor relations provisioning, news services, mobile apps, and custom development. In addition, its data feeds coverage includes equities, options, futures, commodities, currencies, mutual funds, ETFs, and indices. Further, the company provides financial data delivery application products and components comprising quote modules, charts, market movers, news, watch lists, tickers, market summaries, option chains, filings, fundamentals, investor relations solutions, stock and fund screeners, and others; and QMod, a web delivery system for delivering market data content to Web platforms. Additionally, it offers portfolio managements systems, including Quotestream Desktop, We, and Mobile, a Web-delivered, embedded application providing real-time, tick-by-tick, streaming market quotes and research information; Quotestream Professional that offers low-latency tick-by-tick data, customizable screens, advanced charting, comprehensive technical analysis, news, and research data for financial services professionals; Web Portfolio Manager, which provides immediate web access to detailed quote data, market and company news, charting, depth/level II, filings, historical data, snap quotes, and others; and Quotestream Connect that delivers real time data feeds to individual users to power third party applications. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Fountain Hills, Arizona.