Financial Review: LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) versus Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY)

LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) and Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

21.2% of LiveOne shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.0% of Paramount Skydance shares are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of LiveOne shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Paramount Skydance shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares LiveOne and Paramount Skydance”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LiveOne	$77.29 million	0.68	-$20.97 million	($1.75)	-2.17
Paramount Skydance	$28.76 billion	0.41	-$621.00 million	$0.29	36.55

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

Risk & Volatility

LiveOne has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paramount Skydance has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LiveOne	-25.87%	N/A	-39.22%
Paramount Skydance	-2.13%	4.11%	1.21%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for LiveOne and Paramount Skydance, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LiveOne	1	0	2	0	2.33
Paramount Skydance	8	5	2	0	1.60

LiveOne currently has a consensus target price of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 189.47%. Paramount Skydance has a consensus target price of $11.38, suggesting a potential upside of 7.40%. Given LiveOne’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LiveOne is more favorable than Paramount Skydance.

Summary

Paramount Skydance beats LiveOne on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Paramount Skydance

Paramount Global is a media and entertainment company which creates premium content and experiences for audiences. The company’s portfolio of consumer brands includes CBS, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount , Pluto TV and Simon & Schuster, among others. Paramount Global, formerly known as ViacomCBS Inc., is based in NEW YORK.