TaskUs (NASDAQ:TASK) & Marin Software (NASDAQ:MRIN) Critical Comparison

TaskUs (NASDAQ:TASK) and Marin Software (NASDAQ:MRIN) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares TaskUs and Marin Software’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TaskUs	4.94%	16.91%	8.52%
Marin Software	-107.95%	-78.95%	-57.29%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

44.6% of TaskUs shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.5% of Marin Software shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.3% of TaskUs shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.3% of Marin Software shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for TaskUs and Marin Software, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TaskUs	1	4	2	0	2.14
Marin Software	0	0	0	0	N/A

TaskUs presently has a consensus price target of $14.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.90%. Given TaskUs’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe TaskUs is more favorable than Marin Software.

Risk and Volatility

TaskUs has a beta of 2.29, suggesting that its share price is 129% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marin Software has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares TaskUs and Marin Software’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TaskUs	$924.36 million	1.22	$45.69 million	$0.47	27.09
Marin Software	$17.73 million	0.48	-$21.92 million	($6.26)	-0.43

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

Summary

TaskUs beats Marin Software on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TaskUs

TaskUs, Inc. provides digital outsourcing services for companies in Philippines, the United States, India, and internationally. It offers digital customer experience that consists of omni-channel customer care services primarily delivered through non-voice digital channels; and other solutions, including experience and customer care services for new product or market launches, and customer acquisition solutions. The company also provides trust and safety solutions, such as review and disposition of user and advertiser generated visual, text, and audio content, which include removal or labeling of policy violating, and offensive or misleading content, as well as risk management, compliance, identity management, and fraud services; and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that consist of data labeling, annotation, context relevance, and transcription services for training and tuning machine learning algorithms that enables to develop AI systems. It serves clients in various industry segments comprising e-commerce, FinTech, food delivery and ride sharing, gaming, technology, HealthTech, social media, and streaming media. The company was formerly known as TU TopCo, Inc. and changed its name to TaskUs, Inc. in December 2020. TaskUs, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in New Braunfels, Texas.

About Marin Software

Marin Software Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides enterprise marketing software for advertisers and agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It offers MarinOne, a search, social, and eCommerce advertising platform, as well as self-serves solutions and managed services. The company markets and sells its solutions to advertisers directly, and through advertising agencies that use its platform on behalf of their customers. Marin Software Incorporated was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.