Bridgeline Digital (NASDAQ:BLIN) vs. Internet Initiative Japan (OTCMKTS:IIJIY) Critical Contrast

Internet Initiative Japan (OTCMKTS:IIJIY) and Bridgeline Digital (NASDAQ:BLIN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Internet Initiative Japan and Bridgeline Digital, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Internet Initiative Japan	0	1	0	1	3.00
Bridgeline Digital	1	1	1	0	2.00

Bridgeline Digital has a consensus target price of $4.62, indicating a potential upside of 288.24%. Given Bridgeline Digital’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Bridgeline Digital is more favorable than Internet Initiative Japan.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

15.1% of Bridgeline Digital shares are held by institutional investors. 6.7% of Internet Initiative Japan shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.5% of Bridgeline Digital shares are held 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Internet Initiative Japan and Bridgeline Digital”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Internet Initiative Japan	$2.29 billion	1.63	$159.64 million	$1.80	22.58
Bridgeline Digital	$15.38 million	0.97	-$2.52 million	($0.15)	-7.93

Internet Initiative Japan has higher revenue and earnings than Bridgeline Digital. Bridgeline Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Internet Initiative Japan, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Internet Initiative Japan and Bridgeline Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Internet Initiative Japan	6.97%	15.69%	7.19%
Bridgeline Digital	-10.75%	-17.46%	-10.69%

Volatility and Risk

Internet Initiative Japan has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bridgeline Digital has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Summary

Internet Initiative Japan beats Bridgeline Digital on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Internet Initiative Japan

Internet Initiative Japan Inc. provides Internet connectivity, WAN, outsourcing, systems integration, and network-related equipment sales services in Japan. It operates through two segments, Network Services and Systems Integration Business, and ATM Operation Business. The company offers mobile communication and remote access/telework services; WAN/network services, including SDN, multi-cloud network, closed connection, internet VPN, SEIL, remote access, wireless LAN, and GIGA-school; leased line and broadband services; IIJ DNS platform, and domain name registration and maintenance services; IIJ access ID management, dial-up access, and IIJ IPv6 fiber access services; and security solutions for IIJ managed firewall, DDoS protection, and managed IPS/IDS services. It also provides cloud solutions, such as HaaS/IaaS, cloud storage, monitoring/operation, virtual desktop, Paas/Saas, solution for Microsoft and AWS, IoT/M2M, ID management and authentication, network, global, mobile, license, and specialized solutions, as well as IIJ cloud exchange and IIJ cloud integration solutions; integrated, network, mail, and web security, endpoint, security assessment/consulting, web and mail hosting, online storage, content delivery/CDN/CMS, and system integration; IoT services and solutions in the field of industrial, agriculture, energy, and IoT-oriented mobile communication; industry-specific solution; content delivery; and global/privacy products. In addition, the company offers IT outsourcing, IIJ consulting, cognitive factory, IIJ PC deployment support, IIJ PaaS solution, IIJ EMM utilization support, IIJ private cloud, network solutions, IIJ security audit, IIJ malware analysis, IIJ content management, cloud integration solution for Microsoft and AWS, Microsoft 365 transition support solution, data center service, and data center construction engineering solutions, as well as DX edge services. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Bridgeline Digital

Bridgeline Digital, Inc. operates as a marketing technology company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company offers HawkSearch, a site search, recommendation, and personalization application for marketers, merchandisers, and developers; Celebros Search, a commerce-oriented site search product that provides natural language processing with artificial intelligence; and Woorank, a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) audit tool that generates an instant performance audit of the site's technical, on-page, and off-page SEO. It also provides Bridgeline TruPresence, a web content management and eCommerce platform to support the needs of multi-unit organizations and franchises; Bridgeline Unbound, a technology suite that empower marketers to easily manage their digital experiences and create personalized customer journeys; and OrchestraCMS, a digital experience platform that enables development of custom solutions, third-party integrations, and delivery of digital transformation initiatives on the Salesforce platform. In addition, the company offers digital engagement services comprising digital strategy, web design and web development, usability engineering, information architecture, and SEO, as well as hosting services. It serves vertical markets, such as industrial distributors and wholesalers, franchises and enterprises, manufacturers, eCommerce retailers, health services and life sciences, technology, credit unions and banks, and associations and foundations through its direct sales force. The company was formerly known as Bridgeline Software, Inc. Bridgeline Digital, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is based in Woburn, Massachusetts.