Financial Comparison: JOYY (NASDAQ:YY) and Yalla Group (NYSE:YALA)

Yalla Group (NYSE:YALA) and JOYY (NASDAQ:YY) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Yalla Group has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JOYY has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Yalla Group and JOYY, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Yalla Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
JOYY	0	0	2	0	3.00

JOYY has a consensus price target of $66.00, indicating a potential downside of 17.83%. Given JOYY’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe JOYY is more favorable than Yalla Group.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Yalla Group and JOYY”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Yalla Group	$341.94 million	2.47	$149.84 million	$0.77	7.16
JOYY	$2.24 billion	1.93	$301.82 million	($3.10)	-25.91

JOYY has higher revenue and earnings than Yalla Group. JOYY is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Yalla Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

4.7% of Yalla Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of JOYY shares are owned by institutional investors. 52.2% of Yalla Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 43.0% of JOYY shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Yalla Group and JOYY’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Yalla Group	40.78%	16.82%	15.14%
JOYY	9.02%	4.64%	2.96%

About Yalla Group

Yalla Group Limited operates a social networking and gaming platform primarily in the Middle East and North Africa region. It provides mobile applications, including Yalla, a voice-centric group chat platform; and Yalla Ludo, a casual gaming application. The company’s platform offers group chatting and games services; and sells virtual items, as well as provides upgrade services. The company was formerly known as FYXTech Corporation. Yalla Group Limited was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

About JOYY

JOYY Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates social media platforms that offer users engaging and experience across various video-based social platforms. It operates through two segments, BIGO and All Other. The company operates Bigo Live, a social live streaming platform, that provides an interactive online stage for users to host and watch live streaming sessions, share their life moments, showcase their talents, and interact with people worldwide; Likee, a short-form video social platform, which enables users to discover, create, and share short videos, with video creation tools and personalized feeds; imo, an instant messenger platform, that provides audio and video communication services; Hago, a social networking platform that offers casual games integrating social features, such as audio and video multi-user chatrooms and 3D virtual interactive party games; and Shopline, a smart commerce platform, that provides solutions and services to enable merchants in creating and growing their brands online and reach customers through various sales channels, including e-commerce platforms, social commerce, and physical retail stores. It operates in the People's Republic of China, the United States, the Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and internationally. The company was formerly known as YY Inc. and changed its name to JOYY Inc. in December 2019. JOYY Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Singapore.