Gridsum (NASDAQ:GSUM) and Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk and earnings.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
34.0% of Gridsum shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Cogent Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.2% of Cogent Communications shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Gridsum and Cogent Communications’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Gridsum | $62.72 million | 1.39 | -$75.82 million | N/A | N/A |
| Cogent Communications | $520.19 million | 5.22 | $28.67 million | $0.63 | 92.94 |
Cogent Communications has higher revenue and earnings than Gridsum.
Dividends
Cogent Communications pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Gridsum does not pay a dividend. Cogent Communications pays out 381.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cogent Communications has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations for Gridsum and Cogent Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Gridsum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Cogent Communications | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Cogent Communications has a consensus price target of $50.00, indicating a potential downside of 14.60%. Given Cogent Communications’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cogent Communications is more favorable than Gridsum.
Profitability
This table compares Gridsum and Cogent Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Gridsum | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Cogent Communications | 5.92% | -22.47% | 4.15% |
Volatility & Risk
Gridsum has a beta of 3.66, meaning that its stock price is 266% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cogent Communications has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Cogent Communications beats Gridsum on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
Gridsum Company Profile
Gridsum Holding Inc. provides data analysis software for enterprises and government agencies in China. Its proprietary distributed data architecture allows its customers to collect and analyze information; and Gridsum Big Data platform and Gridsum Prophet performs multi-dimensional correlation analysis and analyzes complex real-time events. The company offers Web Dissector to analyze customer Websites by monitoring and analyzing key performance indicators; Mobile Dissector to understand mobile app user activity; SEM Dissector for search engine marketing; SEO Dissector, a search engine optimization tool; Ad Dissector, an advertisement performance monitoring and optimization product; Contribution Dissector to track and analyze user behavior from original access to ultimate conversion; Audience Dissector, an audience analysis product; and Recommendation Engine, a data driven content recommendation solution. It also provides Government Web Dissector, a digital intelligence solution; Government Website Group Integrated Management Platform, an integrated management platform; Streaming Dissector, a real-time viewership analysis for digital online video; Video Dissector, an online video content analytics tool; TV Dissector, an analytics tool; Rating Plus, a television viewing data analytics tool; and Media Dissector, a mass, social, and user-generated content media monitoring and analytics tool. In addition, the company offers Law Dissector, a search and statistical analysis tool; Smart Push, a legal research tool; voice recognition and transcription system; Information Dissector, an insightful analytical system; Social Listening, a cloud-based social listening solution; Gridsum Dashboard, a data visualization tool; and Gridsum Report Center, an automated report generation and distribution tool. Further, it develops new media analytics and information discovery solutions to address customer needs. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.
Cogent Communications Company Profile
Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides high-speed Internet access, private network, and data center colocation space services primarily to small and medium-sized businesses, communications service providers, and other bandwidth-intensive organizations in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Brazil. The company offers on-net Internet access and private network services to law firms, financial services firms, advertising and marketing firms, other professional services businesses, other Internet service providers, telephone companies, cable television companies, Web hosting companies, content delivery network companies, and commercial content and application service providers. It also provides on-net services in carrier-neutral data centers, Cogent controlled data centers, and single-tenant office buildings. In addition, the company offers off-net services to businesses that are connected to its network primarily by means of last mile’ access service lines obtained from other carriers primarily in the form of metropolitan Ethernet circuits. Further, it provides Internet connectivity to customers that are not located in buildings directly connected to its network, as well as offers voice services. The company operates 52 data centers. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.
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