Critical Review: Urgent.ly (NASDAQ:ULY) and Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK)

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) and Urgent.ly (NASDAQ:ULY) 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 institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Shutterstock and Urgent.ly, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shutterstock	0	2	2	0	2.50
Urgent.ly	0	0	1	0	3.00

Shutterstock currently has a consensus target price of $50.33, suggesting a potential upside of 60.30%. Urgent.ly has a consensus target price of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 213.55%. Given Urgent.ly’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Urgent.ly is more favorable than Shutterstock.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Shutterstock and Urgent.ly”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shutterstock	$902.18 million	1.21	$110.27 million	$1.02	30.78
Urgent.ly	$155.93 million	0.04	$74.73 million	$9.32	0.05

Shutterstock has higher revenue and earnings than Urgent.ly. Urgent.ly is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shutterstock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Shutterstock and Urgent.ly’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shutterstock	4.03%	20.39%	9.75%
Urgent.ly	59.29%	N/A	-73.06%

Volatility and Risk

Shutterstock has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Urgent.ly has a beta of 2.22, indicating that its share price is 122% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.8% of Shutterstock shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.3% of Urgent.ly shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.0% of Shutterstock shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.4% of Urgent.ly shares are owned by company 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

Shutterstock beats Urgent.ly on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shutterstock

Shutterstock, Inc. provides platform to connect brands and businesses to high quality content in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers image services consisting of photographs, vectors, and illustrations, which is used in visual communications, such as websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications, and others; footage services, including video clips, filmed by industry experts and cinema grade video effects in HD and 4K formats that are integrated into websites, social media, marketing campaigns, and cinematic productions; and music services comprising music tracks and sound effects, which are used to complement images and footage. It also provides 3 dimensional models consisting of 3D models used in various industries, such as advertising, media and video production, gaming, retail, education, design, and architecture; and generative AI content comprising images generated from algorithms trained with ethically sourced content. The company offers its services under the Shutterstock, Pond5, TurboSquid, PicMonkey, PremiumBeat, Splash News, Bigstock, and Offset brand names. In addition, it operates a collection of graphics interchange format visuals and stickers that supplies casual conversational content. The company serves corporate professionals and organizations, media and broadcast companies, and small and medium-sized businesses, and individual creators through digital, live sales, and client management channels. Shutterstock, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Urgent.ly

Urgent.ly Inc. offers mobility assistance software platform for roadside assistance in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Its services include car lockout, tire changes, towing, stuck in ditch and winch services, motorcycle towing, electric vehicle towing, jump start, and gas delivery. The company's software platform combines location-based services, real-time data, AI and machine-to-machine communication to provide roadside assistance solutions. It serves automotive, insurance, telematics, and other transportation-focused verticals. Urgent.ly Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia.