Financial Analysis: HUYA (NYSE:HUYA) versus LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO)

HUYA (NYSE:HUYA) and LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for HUYA and LiveOne, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HUYA	1	1	1	1	2.50
LiveOne	1	0	2	0	2.33

HUYA presently has a consensus target price of $3.45, indicating a potential upside of 51.32%. LiveOne has a consensus target price of $11.00, indicating a potential upside of 182.78%. Given LiveOne’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe LiveOne is more favorable than HUYA.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares HUYA and LiveOne”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HUYA	$929.83 million	0.55	-$16.10 million	($0.06)	-38.00
LiveOne	$77.14 million	0.69	-$20.97 million	($1.75)	-2.22

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

Volatility and Risk

HUYA has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LiveOne has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its share price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

23.2% of HUYA shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.2% of LiveOne shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of HUYA shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.8% of LiveOne shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares HUYA and LiveOne’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HUYA	-1.59%	0.20%	0.14%
LiveOne	-25.87%	N/A	-39.22%

Summary

HUYA beats LiveOne on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HUYA

HUYA Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates game live streaming platforms in the People's Republic of China. Its platforms enable broadcasters and viewers to interact during live streaming. The company's live streaming content also covers other entertainment content, such as talent shows, anime, outdoor activities, live chats, and other genres. In addition, it operates Nimo TV, a game live streaming platform in international markets. Further, the company provides online advertising, cnt, internet value added, and cultural and creative services. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Guangzhou, China. HUYA Inc. is a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings Limited.

About LiveOne

LiveOne, Inc., a digital media company, engages in the acquisition, distribution, and monetization of live music, Internet radio, podcasting/vodcasting, and music-related streaming and video content. It operates LiveXLive, a live music streaming platform; PodcastOne, a podcasting platform; and Slacker, an integrated membership and advertising streaming music service, as well as produces original music-related content. The company also produces, edits, curates, and streams live music events through broadband transmission over the Internet and satellite networks to its users; provides digital Internet radio and music services to users online and through automotive and mobile original equipment manufacturers on a white label basis; and offers ancillary products and services, such as regulatory and post-implementation support services. In addition, it develops, manufactures, and distributes personalized merchandise and gifts through wholesale and direct-to-consumer distribution channels. Further, the company offers LiveOne App, an application that provides access to live events, audio streams, original episodic content, podcasts, vodcasts, video on demand, real-time livestreams, and social sharing of content. The company was formerly known as LiveXLive Media, Inc. and changed its name to LiveOne, Inc. in October 2021. LiveOne, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.