Head to Head Contrast: Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) & MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Meta Platforms has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.9% of Meta Platforms shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are held by institutional investors. 13.5% of Meta Platforms shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.6% of MediaAlpha shares 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Meta Platforms and MediaAlpha, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Meta Platforms	0	9	34	4	2.89
MediaAlpha	0	5	3	1	2.56

Meta Platforms currently has a consensus price target of $785.22, suggesting a potential upside of 27.31%. MediaAlpha has a consensus price target of $14.29, suggesting a potential upside of 18.85%. Given Meta Platforms’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Meta Platforms is more favorable than MediaAlpha.

Profitability

This table compares Meta Platforms and MediaAlpha’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Meta Platforms	29.83%	33.18%	20.07%
MediaAlpha	7.94%	-301.42%	28.23%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Meta Platforms and MediaAlpha”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Meta Platforms	$200.97 billion	7.82	$60.46 billion	$26.55	23.23
MediaAlpha	$1.11 billion	0.66	$25.62 million	$1.62	7.42

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

Summary

Meta Platforms beats MediaAlpha on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc. engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately. The Reality Labs segment provides augmented and virtual reality related products comprising consumer hardware, software, and content that help people feel connected, anytime, and anywhere. The company was formerly known as Facebook, Inc. and changed its name to Meta Platforms, Inc. in October 2021. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.