Financial Analysis: Scienjoy (NASDAQ:SJ) & Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER)

Scienjoy (NASDAQ:SJ) and Sterling Check (NASDAQ:STER) are both small-cap unclassified companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Scienjoy and Sterling Check’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scienjoy	$1.46 billion	0.02	-$4.93 million	($0.11)	-8.18
Sterling Check	$719.64 million	2.06	-$120,000.00	N/A	N/A

Sterling Check has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Scienjoy.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.3% of Scienjoy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of Sterling Check shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.5% of Scienjoy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.9% of Sterling Check shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Scienjoy and Sterling Check’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scienjoy	-2.20%	-1.15%	-0.94%
Sterling Check	-0.02%	9.47%	4.91%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Scienjoy and Sterling Check, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scienjoy	0	0	1	0	3.00
Sterling Check	0	5	1	0	2.17

Scienjoy presently has a consensus target price of $91.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10,011.11%. Sterling Check has a consensus target price of $15.30, suggesting a potential upside of 0.92%. Given Scienjoy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Scienjoy is more favorable than Sterling Check.

Volatility and Risk

Scienjoy has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sterling Check has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sterling Check beats Scienjoy on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Scienjoy

Scienjoy Holding Corporation provides mobile live streaming platforms in the People's Republic of China. The company focuses on interactive show live streaming from broadcasters to users. Its platforms enable users to view and interact with broadcasters through online chat, virtual items, and playing games. The company operates live streaming platforms under the Showself Live Streaming, Lehai Live Streaming, Haixiu Live Streaming, BeeLive Live Streaming, and Hongle Live Streaming names. It also offers technical development and advisory services. The company was founded in 2011 and is based in Hangzhou City, the People's Republic of China.

About Sterling Check

Sterling Check Corp. provides technology-enabled background and identity verification services in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers identity verification services, such as telecom and device verification, identification document verification, facial recognition with biometric matching, social security number verification, and live video chat identification proofing; fingerprinting; background checks, including criminal record checks, sex offender registries, civil court records, motor vehicle and driving license records, executive investigations, credit reports, social media searches, and contingent workforce solutions; liens, judgments, and bankruptcies; and sanctions, risk, and compliance checks. It also provides credential verification services, which include employment verification, education verification, credential verification, professional reference checks, and department of transportation; drug and health screening; onboarding solutions, including Sterling I-9 that integrates a suite of screening and onboarding services and onboarding forms; and workforce, medical license, and motor vehicle records monitoring solutions. The company's services are delivered through its cloud-based technology platform that empowers organizations with real-time and data-driven insights to conduct and manage their employment screening programs. It serves a client base in a range of industries, such as healthcare, gig economy, financial and business services, industrials, retail, contingent, technology, media and entertainment, transportation and logistics, hospitality, education, and government. The company was formerly known as Sterling Ultimate Parent Corp. and changed its name to Sterling Check Corp. in August 2021. Sterling Check Corp. was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Independence, Ohio.