Financial Survey: John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLYB) & Creative Realities (NASDAQ:CREX)

Creative Realities (NASDAQ:CREX) and John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLYB) are both communication services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.3% of Creative Realities shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.5% of John Wiley & Sons shares are held by institutional investors. 26.8% of Creative Realities shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.7% of John Wiley & Sons shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Creative Realities has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, John Wiley & Sons has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Creative Realities and John Wiley & Sons, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Creative Realities	1	1	2	0	2.25
John Wiley & Sons	0	1	0	0	2.00

Creative Realities currently has a consensus target price of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 231.95%. Given Creative Realities’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Creative Realities is more favorable than John Wiley & Sons.

Profitability

This table compares Creative Realities and John Wiley & Sons’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Creative Realities	-29.29%	-88.21%	-13.51%
John Wiley & Sons	11.90%	27.99%	8.16%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Creative Realities and John Wiley & Sons”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Creative Realities	$57.23 million	0.57	-$8.28 million	($2.11)	-1.14
John Wiley & Sons	$1.68 billion	1.45	$221.62 million	$3.78	12.67

John Wiley & Sons has higher revenue and earnings than Creative Realities. Creative Realities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than John Wiley & Sons, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

John Wiley & Sons beats Creative Realities on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Creative Realities

Creative Realities, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides digital marketing technology and solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers digital signage and media solutions to enhance communications in a wide-ranging variety of out-of-home environments. The company’s solutions include digital merchandising systems and omni-channel customer engagement systems; interactive digital shopping assistants; advisors and kiosks; and other interactive marketing technologies, such as mobile, social media, point-of-sale transactions, beaconing, and web-based media that enables its customers to engage with their consumers. It also provides hardware system design/engineering, hardware installation, content development, content scheduling, post-deployment network and field support, and media sales, as well as media management and distribution software platforms and networks; device and product management; and customized software service layers, systems, experiences, workflows, and integrated solutions. The company sells its solutions to the automotive, retail, digital out of home comprising advertising networks and retail media networks, foodservice/quick-serve restaurants, financial services, gaming, and sports and entertainment venues. Creative Realities, Inc. is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About John Wiley & Sons

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. engages in the provision of research and learning materials. It operates through the following segments: Research, Learning, and Held for Sale or Sold. The Research segment consists of research publishing and research solutions. The Learning segment includes academic and professional reporting lines and consists of publishing and related knowledge solutions. The Held for Sale or Sold segment offers businesses held-for-sale including Wiley Edge and CrossKnowledge, University Services and Tuition Manager, and Test Prep and Advancement Courses. The company was founded by Charles Wiley in 1807 and is headquartered in Hoboken, NJ.