Comparing Zapata Quantum (OTCMKTS:ZPTA) and Cheetah Mobile (NYSE:CMCM)
by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets DailyCheetah Mobile (NYSE:CMCM – Get Free Report) and Zapata Quantum (OTCMKTS:ZPTA – Get Free Report) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability and risk.
Volatility and Risk
Cheetah Mobile has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zapata Quantum has a beta of 21.21, indicating that its share price is 2,021% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Cheetah Mobile and Zapata Quantum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Cheetah Mobile | -28.11% | -8.54% | -3.22% |
| Zapata Quantum | N/A | -7.23% | -3.10% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Cheetah Mobile and Zapata Quantum”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Cheetah Mobile | $164.51 million | 0.45 | -$36.85 million | ($1.51) | -1.61 |
| Zapata Quantum | $3.88 million | 35.25 | $9.34 million | ($0.02) | -36.50 |
Zapata Quantum has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cheetah Mobile. Zapata Quantum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cheetah Mobile, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cheetah Mobile and Zapata Quantum, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Cheetah Mobile | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Zapata Quantum | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.00 |
Zapata Quantum has a consensus price target of $1.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.99%. Given Zapata Quantum’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Zapata Quantum is more favorable than Cheetah Mobile.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
0.4% of Cheetah Mobile shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.2% of Zapata Quantum shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.1% of Cheetah Mobile shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 39.3% of Zapata Quantum shares are owned by 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.
Summary
Zapata Quantum beats Cheetah Mobile on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Cheetah Mobile
Cheetah Mobile Inc. along with its subsidiaries, engages in provision of internet services, artificial intelligence, and other services in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Japan, and internationally. The company's internet products include Duba Anti-virus, an internet security application to protect users against known and unknown security threats and malicious applications; and Clean Master, a junk file cleaning, memory boosting, and privacy protection tool for mobile devices. It also offers value-added products, such as PC and mobile products, as well as wallpaper, office optimization software, and others; E-Coupon vending robot, a delivery and reception robot, which includes marketing campaigns and services; and multi-cloud management platform and overseas advertising agency service. In addition, the company provides mobile advertising services; duba.com personal start page that aggregates online resources and provides users access to their online destinations, such as online shopping, video, online game, travel, and local information; artificial intelligence and other services; and premium membership services. It serves mobile advertising networks and partners, e-commerce companies, mobile application developers, and mobile game developers, as well as individual customers. The company was formerly known as Kingsoft Internet Software Holdings Limited and changed its name to Cheetah Mobile Inc. in March 2014. Cheetah Mobile Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.
About Zapata Quantum
Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. operates as an industrial generative artificial intelligence (AI) software company in the United States. The company offers subscription-based solutions that combine software and services to develop generative AI applications, as well as accompanying services to solve complex industrial problems. It also provides Zapata AI Sense, a suite of algorithms and complex mathematical models to enhance analytics and other data-driven applications; Zapata AI Prose, a set of generative AI solutions based on large language models for generic chatbot applications; and Orquestra, an industrial generative AI application development platform, which provides sense and prose. It serves enterprise organizations. Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. was founded in 2017 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.