Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO – Get Free Report) and Harte Hanks (NASDAQ:HHS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares Criteo and Harte Hanks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Criteo | 5.60% | 14.33% | 8.05% |
| Harte Hanks | -3.70% | -30.14% | -6.30% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
94.3% of Criteo shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.8% of Harte Hanks shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Criteo shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of Harte Hanks shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Criteo | $1.94 billion | 0.38 | $144.60 million | $1.97 | 7.65 |
| Harte Hanks | $159.57 million | 0.20 | -$810,000.00 | ($0.76) | -5.75 |
Criteo has higher revenue and earnings than Harte Hanks. Harte Hanks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Criteo, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Criteo has a beta of 0.29, meaning that its share price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harte Hanks has a beta of 0.17, meaning that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Criteo and Harte Hanks, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Criteo | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2.25 |
| Harte Hanks | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Criteo presently has a consensus target price of $22.65, suggesting a potential upside of 50.30%. Given Criteo’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Criteo is more favorable than Harte Hanks.
Summary
Criteo beats Harte Hanks on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Criteo
Criteo S.A., a technology company, provides marketing and monetization services on the open Internet in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company's Criteo Shopper Graph, which derives clients' proprietary commerce data, such as transaction activity on their digital properties. It also offers Criteo AI Engine solutions, including lookalike finder, recommendation, and predictive bidding algorithms; recommendation algorithms, dynamic creative optimization+, sponsored product placement algorithms, and other product placement algorithms. The company's technology comprises data synchronization, storage, and analysis of distributed computing infrastructure in various geographies, as well as fast data collection and retrieval using multi-layered caching infrastructure; and experimentation platform, an offline/online testing platform to enhance the capabilities and effectiveness of prediction models. In addition, it provides Criteo Marketing Solutions that allow commerce companies to address various marketing goals by engaging their consumers with personalized ads across the web, mobile, and offline store environments; and Criteo Retail Media solutions, which allows retailers to generate advertising revenues from consumer brands, and/or to drive sales for themselves, by monetizing their data and audiences through personalized ads, either on their own digital property or on the open Internet. Further, the company offers real-time advertising technology and trading infrastructure, delivering advanced media buying, selling, and packaging capabilities for media owners, agencies, performance advertisers, and third-party AdTech platforms. It serves companies in digital retail, travel, and classifieds sectors. Criteo S.A. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Paris, France.
About Harte Hanks
Harte-Hanks, Inc. engages in the provision of marketing solutions. It specializes in consulting, data analytics, creative services, digital and social media, marketing strategy, marketing technology, and other related services. It supports a range of customers in the field of technology, travel and leisure, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, automotive, finance, and retail. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in San Antonio, TX.
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