Critical Survey: CuriosityStream (CURI) versus Its Rivals

CuriosityStream (NASDAQ:CURI) is one of 186 publicly-traded companies in the “Entertainment” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare CuriosityStream to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

CuriosityStream has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its stock price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CuriosityStream’s competitors have a beta of 0.93, meaning that their average stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

CuriosityStream pays an annual dividend of $0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.6%. CuriosityStream pays out 3,400.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Entertainment” companies pay a dividend yield of 19.2% and pay out 78.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. CuriosityStream has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. CuriosityStream lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for CuriosityStream and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CuriosityStream	0	1	2	2	3.20
CuriosityStream Competitors	1774	4379	9411	243	2.51

CuriosityStream currently has a consensus price target of $5.50, suggesting a potential upside of 88.36%. As a group, “Entertainment” companies have a potential upside of 22.33%. Given CuriosityStream’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe CuriosityStream is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares CuriosityStream and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CuriosityStream	0.03%	0.06%	0.03%
CuriosityStream Competitors	9.17%	-61.36%	-3.16%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CuriosityStream and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
CuriosityStream	$71.66 million	-$6.43 million	292.00
CuriosityStream Competitors	$4.17 billion	$76.31 million	13.38

CuriosityStream’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than CuriosityStream. CuriosityStream is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

6.8% of CuriosityStream shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.8% of shares of all “Entertainment” companies are held by institutional investors. 31.1% of CuriosityStream shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.8% of shares of all “Entertainment” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

CuriosityStream beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About CuriosityStream

CuriosityStream Inc. operates as a factual content streaming service and media company. The company provides premium video and audio programming services in various categories of factual entertainment, including science, history, society, nature, lifestyle, and technology through direct subscription video on-demand (SVoD) platforms accessible by internet connected devices, or indirectly via distribution partners who deliver CuriosityStream content via distributor's platform or system, as well as through bundled content licenses for SVoD and linear offerings, talks and courses, and partner bulk sales. It offers streaming content through devices, including televisions, set-top boxes, computers, streaming media players, game consoles, and mobile devices. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Silver Spring, Maryland.