Star (NASDAQ:STHO) vs. Boston Omaha (NYSE:BOC) Financial Review

Star (NASDAQ:STHO) and Boston Omaha (NYSE:BOC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Star and Boston Omaha, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Star	1	0	0	0	1.00
Boston Omaha	1	0	1	0	2.00

Boston Omaha has a consensus price target of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 77.52%. Given Boston Omaha’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Boston Omaha is more favorable than Star.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.3% of Star shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.4% of Boston Omaha shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Star shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.2% of Boston Omaha shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Star and Boston Omaha”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Star	$113.30 million	0.89	-$86.75 million	($4.32)	-1.76
Boston Omaha	$108.28 million	4.09	-$1.29 million	$0.03	469.43

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

Risk & Volatility

Star has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Boston Omaha has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Star and Boston Omaha’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Star	-50.51%	-32.44%	-18.41%
Boston Omaha	0.68%	0.14%	0.11%

Summary

Boston Omaha beats Star on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Star

Star Holdings engages in the non-ground lease related commercial real estate businesses in the United States. Its portfolio primarily comprises interest in the Asbury Park Waterfront and Magnolia Green residential development projects. Star Holdings is based in New York, New York.

About Boston Omaha

Boston Omaha Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the outdoor billboard advertising business in the southeast United States. It is also involved in the surety insurance and related brokerage, broadband, and asset management businesses. The company was formerly known as REO Plus, Inc. and changed its name to Boston Omaha Corporation in March 2015. Boston Omaha Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.