Contrasting Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) & Getty Images (NYSE:GETY)

Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) and Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Getty Images and Alibaba Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Getty Images	$916.55 million	1.83	$19.34 million	$0.08	51.01
Alibaba Group	$950.25 billion	0.25	$11.08 billion	$3.82	25.54

Alibaba Group has higher revenue and earnings than Getty Images. Alibaba Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Getty Images, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Getty Images and Alibaba Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Getty Images	4.19%	9.36%	2.44%
Alibaba Group	7.31%	12.08%	7.46%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

45.8% of Getty Images shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.5% of Alibaba Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.3% of Getty Images shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.5% of Alibaba Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Getty Images has a beta of 2.05, meaning that its share price is 105% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alibaba Group has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Getty Images and Alibaba Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Getty Images	0	1	3	0	2.75
Alibaba Group	0	2	13	0	2.87

Getty Images currently has a consensus price target of $5.55, indicating a potential upside of 36.03%. Alibaba Group has a consensus price target of $113.13, indicating a potential upside of 15.96%. Given Getty Images’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Getty Images is more favorable than Alibaba Group.

Summary

Alibaba Group beats Getty Images on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Getty Images

Getty Images Holdings, Inc. offers creative and editorial visual content solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Its products include Getty Images that offers creative and editorial content including stills, music and video which focuses on corporate, agency, and media customers; iStock.com, an e-commerce offering where customers have access to creative stills and video; Unsplash.com, a platform offering free stock photo downloads and paid subscriptions targeted to the high-growth prosumer and semi-professional creator segments; and Unsplash+ that provides access to unique model released content with expanded legal protections. In addition, it maintains privately-owned photographic archives covering news, sport, and entertainment, as well as variety of subjects, including lifestyle, business, science, health, wellness, beauty, sports, transportation, and travel. Further, the company provides music licensing, and digital asset management and distribution services. It serves media outlets, advertising agencies and corporations, individual creators, and prosumers. The company was formerly known as Getty Images, Inc. Getty Images Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands, retailers, and other businesses to engage with their users and customers in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates through seven segments: China Commerce, International Commerce, Local Consumer Services, Cainiao, Cloud, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others. It operates Taobao, a digital retail platform; Tmall, a third-party online and mobile commerce platform; Alimama, a monetization platform; 1688.com and Alibaba.com, which are online wholesale marketplaces; AliExpress, a retail marketplace; Lazada, Trendyol, and Daraz that are e-commerce platforms; Freshippo, a retail platform for groceries and fresh goods; and Tmall Global, an import e-commerce platform. The company also operates Cainiao Network logistic services platform; Ele.me, an on-demand delivery and local services platform; Koubei, a restaurant and local services guide platform; and Fliggy, an online travel platform. In addition, it offers pay-for-performance, in-feed, and display marketing services; and Taobao Ad Network and Exchange, a real-time online bidding marketing exchange. Further, the company provides elastic computing, storage, network, security, database, big data, and IoT services; and hardware, software license, software installation, and application development and maintenance services. Additionally, it operates Youku, an online video platform; Quark, a platform for information search, storage, and consumption; Alibaba Pictures and other content platforms that provide online videos, films, live events, news feeds, literature, music, and others; Amap, a mobile digital map, navigation, and real-time traffic information app; DingTalk, a business efficiency mobile app; and Tmall Genie smart speaker. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China.