Head-To-Head Review: HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) & PodcastOne (NASDAQ:PODC)

HealthStream (NASDAQ:HSTM) and PodcastOne (NASDAQ:PODC) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for HealthStream and PodcastOne, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HealthStream	0	1	2	0	2.67
PodcastOne	0	0	2	0	3.00

HealthStream currently has a consensus target price of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.17%. PodcastOne has a consensus target price of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 122.77%. Given PodcastOne’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe PodcastOne is more favorable than HealthStream.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares HealthStream and PodcastOne’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HealthStream	$279.06 million	2.88	$15.21 million	$0.50	52.82
PodcastOne	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

HealthStream has higher revenue and earnings than PodcastOne.

Profitability

This table compares HealthStream and PodcastOne’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HealthStream	5.45%	4.71%	3.21%
PodcastOne	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.6% of HealthStream shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.9% of PodcastOne shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.3% of HealthStream shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

HealthStream beats PodcastOne on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HealthStream

HealthStream, Inc. provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based applications for healthcare organizations in the United States. The company's solutions help healthcare organizations in meeting their ongoing clinical development, talent management, training, education, assessment, competency management, safety and compliance, and scheduling, as well as provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment needs. It offers hStream, a technology platform that powers a range of healthcare workforce solutions. The company provides its solutions to customers across a range of entities within the healthcare industry, including private, not-for-profit, and government entities, as well as pharmaceutical and medical device companies through its direct sales teams. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

About PodcastOne

PodcastOne, Inc. operates as a podcast platform and publisher. The company offers its content to audiences through podcasting distribution platforms, including its website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and others. It also produces vodcasts, branded podcasts, merchandise, and live events. In addition, the company builds, owns, and operates LaunchPadOne, a self-publishing podcast platform. The company was formerly known as Courtside Group, Inc. and changed its name to PodcastOne, Inc. in September 2023. PodcastOne, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Beverly Hills, California. PodcastOne, Inc. is a subsidiary of LiveOne, Inc.