Critical Analysis: Trivago N.V. ADS (NASDAQ:TRVG) vs. United Internet (OTCMKTS:UDIRF)

United Internet (OTCMKTS:UDIRF) and Trivago N.V. ADS (NASDAQ:TRVG) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for United Internet and Trivago N.V. ADS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Internet	1	0	0	0	1.00
Trivago N.V. ADS	1	4	1	0	2.00

Trivago N.V. ADS has a consensus target price of $3.85, indicating a potential upside of 34.62%. Given Trivago N.V. ADS’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Trivago N.V. ADS is more favorable than United Internet.

Risk & Volatility

United Internet has a beta of 0.12, indicating that its share price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Trivago N.V. ADS has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares United Internet and Trivago N.V. ADS”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Internet	$6.85 billion	0.77	$114.57 million	$0.74	36.94
Trivago N.V. ADS	$498.74 million	0.40	-$25.64 million	$0.07	40.86

United Internet has higher revenue and earnings than Trivago N.V. ADS. United Internet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Trivago N.V. ADS, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

4.5% of Trivago N.V. ADS shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Trivago N.V. ADS shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares United Internet and Trivago N.V. ADS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Internet	1.90%	2.19%	1.00%
Trivago N.V. ADS	0.46%	1.54%	0.94%

About United Internet

United Internet AG, through its subsidiaries, operates as an Internet service provider worldwide. The company operates through Consumer Access, Business Access, Consumer Applications, and Business Applications segments. It offers landline-based broadband and mobile internet products, including home networks, online storage, telephony, and IPTV for private users; and telecommunication products ranging from fiber-optic direct connections to tailored ICT solutions, which include voice, data, and network solutions, as well as infrastructure services to national and international carriers and ISPs. The company also provides applications and services for home users, such as personal information management applications comprising email, to-do lists, appointments, and addresses; and online cloud storage, as well as domains and website solutions. In addition, it provides business applications for freelancers and small to medium enterprises, such as domains, websites, web hosting, servers, cloud solutions, e-shops, group work, online cloud storage, and office software. It offers its access products through the yourfone, smartmobile.de, 1&1, and 1&1 Versatel brands; and applications through GMX, mail.com, WEB.DE, home.pl, Arsys, STRATO, IONOS, Fasthosts, we22, InterNetX, united-domains, and World4You brand names. In addition, the company offers customers professional services in the fields of active domain management; performance-based advertising and sales services under the Sedo brand name; online advertising services under the United Internet Media brand name; and white-label website builder services under the we22 brand, as well as sells IT hardware. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Montabaur, Germany.

About Trivago N.V. ADS

trivago N.V., together with its subsidiaries, operates a hotel and accommodation search platform in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and internationally. It offers an online meta-search for hotels and accommodation through online travel agencies, hotel chains, and independent hotels. The company provides travel search for different types of accommodations, such as hotels, vacation rentals, and apartments; and enable advertiser access through website and apps. In addition, it offers access to its platform through various localized websites and apps in various languages. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. trivago N.V. operates as a subsidiary of Expedia Lodging Partner Services Sarl.