Head-To-Head Analysis: Oblong (NYSE:OBLG) vs. EverQuote (NASDAQ:EVER)

EverQuote (NASDAQ:EVER) and Oblong (NYSE:OBLG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for EverQuote and Oblong, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
EverQuote	0	0	5	1	3.17
Oblong	0	0	0	0	0.00

EverQuote currently has a consensus target price of $31.67, suggesting a potential upside of 43.48%. Given EverQuote’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe EverQuote is more favorable than Oblong.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.5% of EverQuote shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Oblong shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.8% of EverQuote shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Oblong shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares EverQuote and Oblong’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
EverQuote	3.31%	13.94%	9.24%
Oblong	-158.75%	-89.12%	-69.64%

Volatility and Risk

EverQuote has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oblong has a beta of 3.12, meaning that its share price is 212% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares EverQuote and Oblong”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
EverQuote	$287.92 million	2.71	-$51.29 million	$0.34	64.91
Oblong	$3.81 million	1.23	-$4.38 million	N/A	N/A

Oblong has lower revenue, but higher earnings than EverQuote.

Summary

EverQuote beats Oblong on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About EverQuote

EverQuote, Inc. operates an online marketplace for insurance shopping in the United States. The company offers auto, home and renters, and life insurance. The company serves carriers and agents, as well as indirect distributors. The company was formerly known as AdHarmonics, Inc., and changed its name to EverQuote, Inc. in November 2014. EverQuote, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Oblong

Oblong, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides multi-stream collaboration technologies and managed services for video collaboration and network applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Collaboration Products and Managed Services. Its flagship product is Mezzanine that enables visual collaboration across multi-users, multi-screens, multi-devices, and multi-locations for video telepresence, laptop and application sharing, and whiteboard sharing and slides applications. The company also provides managed videoconferencing services; and remote service management, which offers an overlay to enterprise information technology and channel partner support organizations, as well as support and management services for customer video environments. In addition, it provides network solutions, including Cloud Connect: Video that allows its customers to outsource the management of their video traffic to them and provides the customer's office locations with a secure, dedicated video network connection to the Oblong Cloud for video communications; Cloud Connect: Converge, which offers customized multiprotocol label switching solutions; and Cloud Connect: Cross Connect that allows the customer to leverage existing carrier for the extension of a Layer 2 private line to its data center. The company serves a range of industries comprising aerospace, consulting, executive search, broadcast media, legal, insurance, technology, financial services, education, healthcare, real estate, retail, construction, hospitality, and others, as well as government sector. Oblong, Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.