Critical Comparison: SEA (NYSE:SE) and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock (NASDAQ:PHLT)

SEA (NYSE:SE) and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock (NASDAQ:PHLT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

SEA has a beta of 1.7, indicating that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock has a beta of 0.15, indicating that its share price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares SEA and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SEA	$17.93 billion	5.28	$150.73 million	$1.42	113.18
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	$128.92 million	1.66	-$7.52 million	($0.08)	-34.13

SEA has higher revenue and earnings than Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock. Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SEA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares SEA and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SEA	0.64%	1.40%	0.50%
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	-6.74%	-10.19%	-7.83%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

59.5% of SEA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of SEA shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.2% of Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock shares are held by 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for SEA and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SEA	0	3	9	2	2.93
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	0	0	0	1	4.00

SEA presently has a consensus target price of $145.23, suggesting a potential downside of 9.63%. Given SEA’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe SEA is more favorable than Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock.

Summary

SEA beats Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SEA

Sea Ltd. is an internet and mobile platform company, which engages in the provision of online gaming services. It operates through the following segments: Digital Entertainment, E-Commerce, and Digital Financial Services. The Digital Entertainment segment offers and develops mobile and PC online games. The E-Commerce segment manages a third-party marketplace through the Shopee mobile app and websites that connect buyers and sellers. The Digital Financial Services segment includes a variety of payment services and loans to individuals and businesses through SeaMoney. Sea was founded by Xiao Dong Li, Gang Ye, and Jing Ye Chen on May 8, 2009 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock

Performant Healthcare, Inc. engages in the provision of technology-enabled audit, recovery, customer care, and related analytics services. Its services help identify improper payments, and in some markets, restructure and recover delinquent or defaulted assets and improper payments for both government and private clients. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Plantation, FL.