Data Storage (DTST) Competitors

Data Storage (NASDAQ:DTST) and HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment and earnings.

Which has better valuation & earnings, DTST or HQI?

HireQuest has higher revenue and earnings than Data Storage. Data Storage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HireQuest, 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
Data Storage	$25.37M	1.22	$520K	-$0.04	-106.98
HireQuest	$34.60M	3.53	$3.67M	$0.18	48.08

Is DTST or HQI more profitable?

HireQuest has a net margin of 7.47% compared to Data Storage's net margin of -1.17%. HireQuest's return on equity of 13.88% beat Data Storage's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Data Storage	-1.17%	-1.42%	-1.19%
HireQuest	7.47%	13.88%	9.35%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in DTST or HQI?

11.6% of Data Storage shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.0% of HireQuest shares are owned by institutional investors. 43.8% of Data Storage shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 43.5% of HireQuest shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor DTST or HQI?

In the previous week, Data Storage had 2 more articles in the media than HireQuest. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Data Storage and 0 mentions for HireQuest. Data Storage's average media sentiment score of 0.33 beat HireQuest's score of 0.00 indicating that Data Storage is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Data Storage	Neutral
HireQuest	Neutral

Do analysts recommend DTST or HQI?

HireQuest has a consensus price target of $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 50.20%. Given HireQuest's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HireQuest is more favorable than Data Storage.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Data Storage	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.33
HireQuest	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has more volatility & risk, DTST or HQI?

Data Storage has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HireQuest has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

HireQuest beats Data Storage on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.