Contrasting Starz Entertainment (NASDAQ:STRZ) and Sound Group (NASDAQ:SOGP)

Starz Entertainment (NASDAQ:STRZ) and Sound Group (NASDAQ:SOGP) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Starz Entertainment and Sound Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Starz Entertainment	1	4	2	1	2.38
Sound Group	0	1	0	0	2.00

Starz Entertainment currently has a consensus price target of $29.33, indicating a potential upside of 11.87%. Given Starz Entertainment’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Starz Entertainment is more favorable than Sound Group.

Risk and Volatility

Starz Entertainment has a beta of 2.46, meaning that its stock price is 146% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sound Group has a beta of 2.45, meaning that its stock price is 145% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Starz Entertainment and Sound Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Starz Entertainment	$963.40 million	0.46	-$115.80 million	($25.49)	-1.03
Sound Group	$443.69 million	0.13	$32.39 million	($1.21)	-10.42

Sound Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Starz Entertainment. Sound Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Starz Entertainment, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Starz Entertainment and Sound Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Starz Entertainment	-33.98%	-21.53%	-6.54%
Sound Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

1.6% of Sound Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.6% of Starz Entertainment shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.2% of Sound Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Starz Entertainment beats Sound Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Starz Entertainment

Starz is a premium cable and streaming network owned by Starz Entertainment, which was formerly a part of Lionsgate. Starz had about 20 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada as of Dec. 31, 2024. The company’s franchises include “Outlander” and “Power.”

About Sound Group

Sound Group Inc. operates as an audio-centric social and entertainment company. It focuses on building audio platform to connect and communicate. The company, through its product portfolio and in-house technologies, caters to user interest in audio entertainment and social networking. The company was formerly known as LIZHI INC. and changed its name to Sound Group Inc. in January 2024. Sound Group Inc. was founded in 2010 and is based in Singapore.