Waterdrop (WDH) Competitors

Waterdrop (NYSE:WDH) and Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, community ranking, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of WDH or ROOT?

2.0% of Waterdrop shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.8% of Root shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.6% of Waterdrop shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.7% of Root 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.

Is WDH or ROOT more profitable?

Waterdrop has a net margin of 11.69% compared to Root's net margin of -1.56%. Waterdrop's return on equity of 7.02% beat Root's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waterdrop	11.69%	7.02%	5.27%
Root	-1.56%	-9.81%	-1.12%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WDH or ROOT?

Root received 17 more outperform votes than Waterdrop when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 71.43% of users gave Waterdrop an outperform vote while only 27.55% of users gave Root an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Waterdrop	Outperform Votes 10 71.43%	Underperform Votes 4 28.57%
Root	Outperform Votes 27 27.55%	Underperform Votes 71 72.45%

Does the media favor WDH or ROOT?

In the previous week, Waterdrop had 4 more articles in the media than Root. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Waterdrop and 1 mentions for Root. Root's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Waterdrop's score of 0.75 indicating that Root is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waterdrop	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Root	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, WDH or ROOT?

Waterdrop has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Root. Root is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waterdrop, 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
Waterdrop	$370.53M	1.33	$23.06M	$0.12	11.08
Root	$455M	3.33	-$147.40M	-$1.23	-81.47

Do analysts recommend WDH or ROOT?

Root has a consensus price target of $66.00, suggesting a potential downside of 34.14%. Given Root's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Root is more favorable than Waterdrop.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waterdrop	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Root	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.44

Which has more volatility & risk, WDH or ROOT?

Waterdrop has a beta of -0.25, meaning that its stock price is 125% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Root has a beta of 2.58, meaning that its stock price is 158% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Root beats Waterdrop on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.