Coursera (NYSE:COUR – Get Free Report) and ATA (NASDAQ:AACG – Get Free Report) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.
Profitability
This table compares Coursera and ATA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Coursera | -15.39% | -1.72% | -1.07% |
| ATA | -17.96% | -90.86% | -10.89% |
Volatility and Risk
Coursera has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ATA has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Coursera | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2.50 |
| ATA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Coursera currently has a consensus target price of $8.55, indicating a potential upside of 67.39%. Given Coursera’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Coursera is more favorable than ATA.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
89.6% of Coursera shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.7% of ATA shares are held by institutional investors. 16.3% of Coursera shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 52.9% of ATA shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Coursera and ATA”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Coursera | $885.40 million | 1.52 | -$51.00 million | ($0.67) | -7.62 |
| ATA | $268.11 million | 0.13 | -$6.87 million | ($0.20) | -4.08 |
ATA has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Coursera. Coursera is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ATA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Coursera beats ATA on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Coursera
Coursera, Inc. operates an online educational content platform in the United States, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Consumer, Enterprise, and Degrees. The company offers guided projects, courses, and specializations, as well as online degrees; and certificates for entry-level professional, non-entry level professional, university, and MasterTrack. It offers its products to individuals, enterprise, business, campus, and government. The company was formerly known as Dkandu, Inc. and changed its name to Coursera, Inc. in April 2012. Coursera, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
About ATA
ATA Creativity Global, together with its subsidiaries, provides educational services to individual students through its training center network in China and internationally. Its educational services include portfolio training, research-based learning, overseas study counselling, in-school art classes through cooperation with high schools and training organizations, foreign language training services, junior art education, and other related educational services to its students. The company also offers online courses for students. It provides its services through partnership with sales channels, internet and mobile advertisement, word of mouth referral, and marketing events and activities. The company was formerly known as ATA Inc. and changed its name to ATA Creativity Global in September 2019. ATA Creativity Global was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Hefei, China.
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