Financial Analysis: Echostar (NASDAQ:ECHO) vs. Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD)

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) and Echostar (NASDAQ:ECHO) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Trade Desk has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Echostar has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Trade Desk and Echostar’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Trade Desk	13.61%	16.09%	6.90%
Echostar	-38.71%	-1.28%	-0.25%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Trade Desk and Echostar”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Trade Desk	$2.90 billion	1.96	$443.30 million	$0.84	14.38
Echostar	$15.00 billion	1.84	-$14.50 billion	($24.92)	-3.81

Trade Desk has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Echostar. Echostar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Trade Desk, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.8% of Trade Desk shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.6% of Echostar shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.7% of Trade Desk shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 54.6% of Echostar shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Trade Desk and Echostar, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Trade Desk	10	25	4	0	1.85
Echostar	1	1	6	1	2.78

Trade Desk presently has a consensus target price of $18.19, suggesting a potential upside of 50.61%. Echostar has a consensus target price of $137.88, suggesting a potential upside of 45.38%. Given Trade Desk’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Trade Desk is more favorable than Echostar.

Summary

Trade Desk beats Echostar on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Trade Desk

The Trade Desk, Inc. operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices. It provides data and other value-added services. The company serves advertising agencies, brands, and other service providers for advertisers. The Trade Desk, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Ventura, California.

About Echostar

EchoStar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides networking technologies and services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Hughes and EchoStar Satellite Services (ESS). The Hughes segment offers broadband network technologies, managed services, equipment, hardware, satellite services, and communications solutions to government and enterprise customers. The segment also designs, provides, and installs gateway and terminal equipment to customers for other satellite systems. In addition, it designs, develops, constructs, and provides telecommunication networks comprising satellite ground segment systems and terminals to mobile system operators and enterprise customers. Further, this segment designs, provides, and installs gateway and terminal equipment to customers for other satellite systems, as well as offers satellite ground segment systems and terminals for other satellite systems, including mobile system operators. The ESS segment provides satellite services using its owned and leased in-orbit satellites and related licenses to offer satellite services on a full-time and/or occasional-use basis to the U.S. government service providers, internet service providers, broadcast news organizations, content providers, and private enterprise customers. It serves customers in North America, South and Central America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, India, and the Middle East. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.