Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ:ADV) and ASAP (NASDAQ:WTRH) Financial Contrast

Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ:ADV) and ASAP (NASDAQ:WTRH) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Advantage Solutions and ASAP’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Advantage Solutions	-0.36%	-5.26%	-1.54%
ASAP	-131.13%	-52.13%	-19.80%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.8% of Advantage Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.3% of ASAP shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Advantage Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of ASAP shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Advantage Solutions and ASAP, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Advantage Solutions	0	2	2	0	2.50
ASAP	0	0	0	0	N/A

Advantage Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $3.43, suggesting a potential downside of 7.95%. Given Advantage Solutions’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Advantage Solutions is more favorable than ASAP.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Advantage Solutions and ASAP’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Advantage Solutions	$4.22 billion	0.28	-$63.26 million	($0.07)	-53.28
ASAP	$130.00 million	0.15	-$5.23 million	($1.03)	-0.09

ASAP has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Advantage Solutions. Advantage Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ASAP, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Advantage Solutions has a beta of 1.48, suggesting that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ASAP has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Advantage Solutions beats ASAP on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Advantage Solutions

Advantage Solutions Inc. provides business solutions to consumer goods manufacturers and retailers in North America and internationally. It operates in two segments, Sales and Marketing. The Sales segment offers brand-centric services, such as headquarter relationship management; analytics, insights, and intelligence; and brand-centric merchandising services. This segment also provides retailer-centric services comprising retailer-centric merchandising and in-store media services. The Marketing segment offers brand-centric services, including shopper and consumer marketing, and brand experiential services; retailer-centric services, such as retail experiential and private label services; and digital marketing, and digital media and advertising services. The company was formerly known as Karman Holding Corp. and changed its name to Advantage Solutions Inc. in March 2016. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

About ASAP

ASAP, Inc. operates an online ordering technology platform in the United States. Its platform allows to order food, alcohol, convenience, grocery, flowers, auto parts, and others. The company's platform also facilitates access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions for restaurants and other merchants. As of June 30, 2022, it had approximately 27,000 restaurants in approximately 1,000 cities. The company was formerly known as Waitr Holdings Inc. and changed its name to ASAP, Inc. in August 2022. ASAP, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.