Comparing Marchex (NASDAQ:MCHX) & Stem (NYSE:STEM)
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyMarchex (NASDAQ:MCHX – Get Free Report) and Stem (NYSE:STEM – Get Free Report) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation and profitability.
Risk and Volatility
Marchex has a beta of 1.9, meaning that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stem has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Marchex and Stem”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Marchex | $45.42 million | 1.25 | -$5.24 million | ($0.12) | -10.67 |
| Stem | $156.27 million | 0.26 | $137.76 million | ($8.49) | -0.49 |
Stem has higher revenue and earnings than Marchex. Marchex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stem, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings for Marchex and Stem, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Marchex | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 |
| Stem | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Stem has a consensus target price of $7.45, suggesting a potential upside of 79.00%. Given Stem’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Stem is more favorable than Marchex.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
73.5% of Marchex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.6% of Stem shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.5% of Marchex shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Stem shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Marchex and Stem’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Marchex | -12.44% | -18.25% | -13.94% |
| Stem | -49.37% | N/A | -21.85% |
About Marchex
Marchex, Inc., a conversation intelligence company, provides conversational analytics and related solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Its products include Marketing Edge that identifies which campaigns and channels are driving inbound conversations, evaluates what happens during those conversations, and closes the sales loop by connecting converted sales to marketing driven leads; Sonar Business Text Messaging, an artificial intelligence (AI) empowered intelligent workflow enabled mobile messaging solution that enables operations, sales, and marketing teams to communicate personally with field staff, prospects, and customers; Marchex Platform Services, a robust API-based conversation intelligence product that allows executives, sales, customer engagement, and marketing teams to apply Marchex AI to most any calls, regardless of communication platform, in order to identify actionable insights from conversations with their customers; Spotlight, an AI conversation analytics product for multi-location businesses; and Engage, a solution that provides locations with applications to enhance their overall performance. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
About Stem
Stem, Inc. operates as a digitally connected, intelligent, and renewable energy storage network provider worldwide. The company offers energy storage hardware sourced from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs); edge hardware to aid in the collection of site data and real-time operation and control of the site and other optional equipment; and Athena, a software platform, which offers battery hardware and software-enabled services to operate the energy storage systems. It serves commercial and industrial enterprises, independent power producers, renewable project developers, and utilities and grid operators. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.