Reviewing Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) and Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD)

Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) and Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Tripadvisor and Trade Desk’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tripadvisor	1.98%	10.37%	3.36%
Trade Desk	13.34%	13.17%	6.10%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Tripadvisor and Trade Desk, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tripadvisor	3	9	3	0	2.00
Trade Desk	2	3	24	1	2.80

Tripadvisor currently has a consensus target price of $18.33, indicating a potential upside of 25.74%. Trade Desk has a consensus target price of $122.65, indicating a potential downside of 2.57%. Given Tripadvisor’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Tripadvisor is more favorable than Trade Desk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Tripadvisor and Trade Desk”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tripadvisor	$1.79 billion	1.13	$10.00 million	$0.23	63.39
Trade Desk	$2.31 billion	26.79	$178.94 million	$0.61	206.36

Trade Desk has higher revenue and earnings than Tripadvisor. Tripadvisor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Trade Desk, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.0% of Tripadvisor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.8% of Trade Desk shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Tripadvisor shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Trade Desk shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Tripadvisor has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Trade Desk has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Trade Desk beats Tripadvisor on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tripadvisor

TripAdvisor, Inc. operates as an online travel company, primarily engages in the provision of travel guidance products and services worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Brand Tripadvisor, Viator, and TheFork. The Brand Tripadvisor segment offers travel guidance platforms for travelers to discover, generate, and share authentic user-generated content in the form of ratings and reviews for destinations, points-of-interest, experiences, accommodations, restaurants, and cruises. The Viator's segment provides pure-play experiences online travel agency that comprehensive and connecting travelers to discover and book tours, activities, and attractions from experience operators. TheFork segment provides an online marketplace that enables diners to discover and book online reservations at restaurants. TripAdvisor, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts. Tripadvisor, Inc. is a subsidiary of Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc.

About Trade Desk

The Trade Desk, Inc. operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices. It provides data and other value-added services. The company serves advertising agencies, brands, and other service providers for advertisers. The Trade Desk, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Ventura, California.