Critical Comparison: Dalton Industries (OTCMKTS:UMGP) versus Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE:CCO)

Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE:CCO) and Dalton Industries (OTCMKTS:UMGP) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Clear Channel Outdoor has a beta of 2.64, indicating that its share price is 164% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dalton Industries has a beta of -0.06, indicating that its share price is 106% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Clear Channel Outdoor and Dalton Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clear Channel Outdoor	2	2	2	0	2.00
Dalton Industries	0	0	0	0	0.00

Clear Channel Outdoor presently has a consensus target price of $2.12, indicating a potential upside of 41.81%. Given Clear Channel Outdoor’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Clear Channel Outdoor is more favorable than Dalton Industries.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

85.5% of Clear Channel Outdoor shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of Clear Channel Outdoor shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Clear Channel Outdoor and Dalton Industries”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clear Channel Outdoor	$1.54 billion	0.48	-$179.25 million	$0.04	37.38
Dalton Industries	$30,000.00	52.75	-$260,000.00	($0.01)	-4.30

Dalton Industries has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Clear Channel Outdoor. Dalton Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Clear Channel Outdoor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Clear Channel Outdoor and Dalton Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clear Channel Outdoor	1.25%	N/A	-2.52%
Dalton Industries	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Clear Channel Outdoor beats Dalton Industries on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Clear Channel Outdoor

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. operates as an out-of-home advertising company in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through America, Airports, Europe-North, and Other segments. The company provides advertising services through billboards, including bulletins and posters, as well as spectaculars, which are customized display structures with videos, multi-dimensional lettering and figures, mechanical devices, moving parts, and other embellishments; street furniture displays, such as advertising surfaces on bus shelters, information kiosks, news racks, and other public structures; transit displays for rail stations and on various types of vehicles; retail displays; and airport advertising displays. It offers solutions, such as RADARView, an audience and campaign planning tool, which analyzes historical mobile location data; RADARConnect, a campaign amplification solution that delivers ads across mobile and other devices to re-target audience groups exposed to an out-of-home advertisement; RADARProof, a campaign measurement and attribution solutions which analyzes anonymized and/or aggregated data; and RADARSync, a data integration platform that uses customer data across the tools for customized application of solutions to customers' specific audience targets and goals. In addition, the company sells street furniture equipment; provides cleaning and maintenance services; and operates public bike programs, a public bicycle rental program that offers bicycles for rent to the public. The company was formerly known as Eller Media Company and changed its name to Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. in August 2005. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

About Dalton Industries

Universal Media Group Inc., a media company, produces and distributes media content worldwide. It produces On The Mike, a TV show that primarily include celebrity interviews, music concerts, and other events. The company was formerly known as Dalton Industries Inc. and changed its name to Universal Media Group Inc. in January 2016. Universal Media Group Inc. was founded in 1971 and is based in Boca Raton, Florida.