Scholastic (SCHL) Competitors

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) and Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) are both small-cap publishing companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, earnings and risk.

Do analysts rate SSTK or SCHL?

Shutterstock presently has a consensus price target of $43.67, indicating a potential upside of 99.98%. Scholastic has a consensus price target of $37.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.74%. Given Shutterstock's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Shutterstock is more favorable than Scholastic.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shutterstock	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
Scholastic	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, SSTK or SCHL?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shutterstock	$1.01B	0.77	$35.93M	$1.81	12.06
Scholastic	$1.63B	0.45	-$1.90M	-$0.66	-43.89

Is SSTK or SCHL a better dividend stock?

Shutterstock pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Scholastic pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Shutterstock pays out 72.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Scholastic pays out -121.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Shutterstock has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Shutterstock is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media prefer SSTK or SCHL?

In the previous week, Shutterstock had 1 more articles in the media than Scholastic. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Shutterstock and 4 mentions for Scholastic. Scholastic's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat Shutterstock's score of 0.53 indicating that Scholastic is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Shutterstock	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Scholastic	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is SSTK or SCHL more profitable?

Shutterstock has a net margin of 6.36% compared to Scholastic's net margin of -0.65%. Shutterstock's return on equity of 18.42% beat Scholastic's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shutterstock	6.36%	18.42%	7.48%
Scholastic	-0.65%	1.10%	0.52%

Which has more volatility & risk, SSTK or SCHL?

Shutterstock has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Scholastic has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of SSTK or SCHL?

82.8% of Shutterstock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.6% of Scholastic shares are held by institutional investors. 32.0% of Shutterstock shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Scholastic shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Shutterstock beats Scholastic on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.