Financial Review: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) versus Taoping (NASDAQ:TAOP)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Taoping (NASDAQ:TAOP) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Alphabet and Taoping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alphabet	31.12%	34.31%	24.88%
Taoping	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Alphabet and Taoping”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alphabet	$371.40 billion	6.65	$100.12 billion	$9.39	21.74
Taoping	$36.67 million	0.06	-$1.82 million	N/A	N/A

Alphabet has higher revenue and earnings than Taoping.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

27.3% of Alphabet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.0% of Taoping shares are held by institutional investors. 13.0% of Alphabet shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 45.4% of Taoping shares are held 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.

Risk & Volatility

Alphabet has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Taoping has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Alphabet and Taoping, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alphabet	3	6	17	5	2.77
Taoping	0	0	0	0	0.00

Alphabet presently has a consensus target price of $215.1875, suggesting a potential upside of 5.40%. Given Alphabet’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Alphabet is more favorable than Taoping.

Summary

Alphabet beats Taoping on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. It is also involved in the sale of apps and in-app purchases and digital content in the Google Play and YouTube; and devices, as well as in the provision of YouTube consumer subscription services. The Google Cloud segment offers infrastructure, cybersecurity, databases, analytics, AI, and other services; Google Workspace that include cloud-based communication and collaboration tools for enterprises, such as Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, and Meet; and other services for enterprise customers. The Other Bets segment sells healthcare-related and internet services. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

About Taoping

Taoping Inc. provides cloud-based platform, resource sharing, and big data solutions to the Chinese new media, education residential community management, and elevator Internet of Things (IoT) industries in the People's Republic of China. It operates through Cloud-Based Technology and Traditional Information Technology segments. The company offers cloud-based software as a service to automate the interactive workflows between advertising agencies and their customers, including establishing new advertising projects, submitting advertisement proposals, revising and approving advertising proposals, processing payment online, remotely uploading advertisement content, and tracking and analyzing performance data. It also provides project-based technology products and services for the public sector; and software and hardware with integrated solutions, such as information technology infrastructure, internet-enabled display technologies, and IoT platforms to customers in government, education, residential community management, media, transportation, and other private sectors, as well as related maintenance and support services. In addition, the company offers cloud-application-terminal, IoT technology based digital advertising distribution network, and media resource sharing platform in the out-of-home advertising markets. Further, it operates Taoping Net, an advertising-resources trading service platform, which connect screen owners, advertisers, and consumers; and Taoping App that enable customers to distribute and manage ads from mobile terminals. The company was formerly known as China Information Technology, Inc. and changed its name to Taoping Inc. in June 2018. Taoping Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People's Republic of China.