Critical Review: Pazoo (OTCMKTS:PZOO) & Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ:ADV)

Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ:ADV) and Pazoo (OTCMKTS:PZOO) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

49.8% of Advantage Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Advantage Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Pazoo shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Advantage Solutions and Pazoo’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Advantage Solutions	$4.22 billion	0.24	-$63.26 million	($0.07)	-45.56
Pazoo	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Pazoo has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Advantage Solutions.

Profitability

This table compares Advantage Solutions and Pazoo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Advantage Solutions	-0.36%	-5.26%	-1.54%
Pazoo	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Advantage Solutions has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pazoo has a beta of -0.28, indicating that its share price is 128% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Advantage Solutions and Pazoo, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Advantage Solutions	0	2	2	0	2.50
Pazoo	0	0	0	0	N/A

Advantage Solutions currently has a consensus price target of $3.43, suggesting a potential upside of 8.31%.

About Advantage Solutions

Advantage Solutions Inc. provides business solutions to consumer goods manufacturers and retailers in North America and internationally. It operates in two segments, Sales and Marketing. The Sales segment offers brand-centric services, such as headquarter relationship management; analytics, insights, and intelligence; and brand-centric merchandising services. This segment also provides retailer-centric services comprising retailer-centric merchandising and in-store media services. The Marketing segment offers brand-centric services, including shopper and consumer marketing, and brand experiential services; retailer-centric services, such as retail experiential and private label services; and digital marketing, and digital media and advertising services. The company was formerly known as Karman Holding Corp. and changed its name to Advantage Solutions Inc. in March 2016. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

About Pazoo

Pazoo, Inc. operates as a health and wellness company. It offers laboratory testing services for marijuana. Pazoo, Inc.was formerly known as IUCSS, Inc. and changed its name to Pazoo, Inc. in May 2011. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey.