Outbrain (OB) Competitors

HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) and Outbrain (NASDAQ:OB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, profitability and media sentiment.

Do analysts prefer HCI or OB?

HCI Group currently has a consensus target price of $140.00, indicating a potential downside of 7.09%. Outbrain has a consensus target price of $6.88, indicating a potential upside of 81.05%. Given Outbrain's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Outbrain is more favorable than HCI Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HCI Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Outbrain	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Which has higher valuation & earnings, HCI or OB?

HCI Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Outbrain. Outbrain is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HCI Group, 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
HCI Group	$749.45M	2.16	$79.03M	$8.80	17.12
Outbrain	$889.88M	0.40	$10.24M	-$0.13	-29.23

Does the media favor HCI or OB?

In the previous week, HCI Group had 5 more articles in the media than Outbrain. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for HCI Group and 2 mentions for Outbrain. HCI Group's average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Outbrain's score of 0.10 indicating that HCI Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
HCI Group	Positive
Outbrain	Neutral

Which has more risk and volatility, HCI or OB?

HCI Group has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Outbrain has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in HCI or OB?

87.0% of HCI Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.4% of Outbrain shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.0% of HCI Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.9% of Outbrain shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HCI or OB?

Outbrain received 24 more outperform votes than HCI Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.85% of users gave HCI Group an outperform vote while only 60.58% of users gave Outbrain an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
HCI Group	Outperform Votes 248 61.85%	Underperform Votes 153 38.15%
Outbrain	Outperform Votes 272 60.58%	Underperform Votes 177 39.42%

Is HCI or OB more profitable?

HCI Group has a net margin of 19.37% compared to Outbrain's net margin of 0.39%. HCI Group's return on equity of 34.17% beat Outbrain's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HCI Group	19.37%	34.17%	7.44%
Outbrain	0.39%	2.18%	0.79%

Is HCI or OB a better dividend stock?

HCI Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Outbrain pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 22.1%. HCI Group pays out 18.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Outbrain pays out -646.2% 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. Outbrain is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

HCI Group beats Outbrain on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.