comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) vs. LiveWorld (OTCMKTS:LVWD) Financial Analysis

LiveWorld (OTCMKTS:LVWD) and comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LiveWorld and comScore”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LiveWorld	$11.46 million	0.53	$210,000.00	N/A	N/A
comScore	$356.05 million	0.10	-$79.36 million	($15.33)	-0.46

LiveWorld has higher earnings, but lower revenue than comScore.

Volatility and Risk

LiveWorld has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, comScore has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for LiveWorld and comScore, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LiveWorld	0	0	0	0	0.00
comScore	0	1	1	0	2.50

comScore has a consensus target price of $10.75, indicating a potential upside of 54.01%. Given comScore’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe comScore is more favorable than LiveWorld.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

42.2% of comScore shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.3% of LiveWorld shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of comScore shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares LiveWorld and comScore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LiveWorld	-4.14%	-10.53%	-6.52%
comScore	-25.77%	-243.87%	-19.79%

About LiveWorld

LiveWorld, Inc., a digital agency and software company, provides social media and technology solutions for pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and financial-travel service industries. It offers consulting, strategy, and creative solutions with human agents for moderation, engagement, customer care, and adverse events management, as well as conversation management software, and chatbots for digital campaigns and social media programs. The company was formerly known as Talk City, Inc. and changed its name to Liveworld, Inc. in May 2001. Liveworld, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Campbell, California.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. operates as an information and analytics company that measures audiences, consumer behavior, and advertising across media platforms in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and internationally. The company provides digital ad solutions, including Media Metrix Multi-Platform and Mobile Metrix, which measure websites and applications on computers, smartphones, and tablets; Video Metrix that delivers measurement of digital video consumption; Plan Metrix, which offers understanding of consumer lifestyle; Total Home Panel Suite, which capture OTT, connected TV, and IOT device usage and content consumption; CCR, which enhances validated campaign essentials verification of mobile and desktop video campaigns; XMedia Enhanced, which provides a deduplicated view of national programming content; Comscore marketing solutions; Lift Models, which measures the impact of advertising on a brand; Survey Analytics, which measure various consumer insights including brand health metrics; and Activation Solutions, including audience activation and content activation. The company's cross platform solutions products and services comprises Comscore TVNational that helps customers understand the performance of network advertising campaigns; Comscore TVLocal allows customers to understand consumer viewing patterns and characteristics; OnDemand Essentials that provides transactional tracking and reporting; Movie Solutions; and Hollywood Software Suite. In addition, it offers custom solutions for planning, optimization, and evaluation of advertising campaigns and brand protection. Further, the company provides products that measure movie viewership and box office results by capturing movie ticket sales in real time or near real time. It serves digital publishers, television networks, movie studios, content owners, brand advertisers, agencies, and technology providers. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.