Critical Analysis: InterCloud Systems (OTCMKTS:ICLD) & comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR)

comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) and InterCloud Systems (OTCMKTS:ICLD) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares comScore and InterCloud Systems’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
comScore	$371.34 million	0.18	-$79.36 million	($18.37)	-0.76
InterCloud Systems	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

InterCloud Systems has lower revenue, but higher earnings than comScore.

Volatility & Risk

comScore has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, InterCloud Systems has a beta of 1.99, indicating that its stock price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for comScore and InterCloud Systems, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
comScore	0	0	2	0	3.00
InterCloud Systems	0	0	0	0	N/A

comScore currently has a consensus target price of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 25.36%.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

42.2% of comScore shares are held by institutional investors. 7.5% of comScore shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of InterCloud Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares comScore and InterCloud Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
comScore	-19.57%	-47.78%	-6.71%
InterCloud Systems	N/A	N/A	N/A

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.

About InterCloud Systems

InterCloud Systems, Inc. provides networking orchestration and automation for software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization environments to telecommunications service provider and corporate enterprise markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Applications and Infrastructure and Professional Services. The Applications and Infrastructure segment provides applications and services, including SDN training, SDN software development and integration, and vertical network function validation; and cabling and other field installations, as well as designs, engineers, installs, and maintains various types of Wi-Fi and DAS networks to enterprise customers. The Professional Services segment engages in the design and deployment of SDN and software-defined wide area networking solutions for enterprise and carrier accounts. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Boca Raton, Florida.