Skillful Craftsman Education Technology (NASDAQ:EDTK) & Vasta Platform (NASDAQ:VSTA) Critical Contrast

Vasta Platform (NASDAQ:VSTA) and Skillful Craftsman Education Technology (NASDAQ:EDTK) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Vasta Platform has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Skillful Craftsman Education Technology has a beta of -0.29, suggesting that its stock price is 129% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Vasta Platform and Skillful Craftsman Education Technology, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vasta Platform	2	0	0	0	1.00
Skillful Craftsman Education Technology	0	0	0	0	0.00

Vasta Platform currently has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.17%. Given Vasta Platform’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vasta Platform is more favorable than Skillful Craftsman Education Technology.

Profitability

This table compares Vasta Platform and Skillful Craftsman Education Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vasta Platform	-3.32%	1.61%	0.98%
Skillful Craftsman Education Technology	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

15.8% of Vasta Platform shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.5% of Skillful Craftsman Education Technology shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Vasta Platform shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.0% of Skillful Craftsman Education Technology shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Vasta Platform and Skillful Craftsman Education Technology”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vasta Platform	$297.72 million	0.78	-$16.78 million	($0.07)	-41.14
Skillful Craftsman Education Technology	$2.00 million	7.73	-$4.72 million	N/A	N/A

Skillful Craftsman Education Technology has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Vasta Platform.

Summary

Vasta Platform beats Skillful Craftsman Education Technology on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vasta Platform

Vasta Platform Limited provides educational printed and digital solutions to private schools operating in the K-12 education sector in Brazil. The company offers digital and printed textbooks, teacher handbooks, exercise books, multidisciplinary subject books, and student evaluations; and PAR platform that allows schools to select their preferred books and materials and follow their own specific teaching methods. It also provides traditional learning systems under the Anglo, Pitágoras, Rede Cristã de Educação, Maxi Ético, Fibonacci, Mackenzie, and Amplia brands; ongoing training for educators; and services to partner schools, including consulting services for school management and the organization of events, and a proprietary and differentiated evaluation system for partner schools and their students. In addition, the company offers Plurall that provides a digital learning experience and allows for tailor-made adjustments for each school; Plurall Maestro that develops digital solutions to help educators in planning and conducting classes; PROFS, a teacher training program; O Líder em Mim, a program with content, methodology, teaching material, and training to develop leadership; English Stars, an English educational platform; EduAll, a bilingual program to enhance its current solutions; Plurall Olímpico, a content for scientific competitions; MindMakers to develop leadership, collaboration, and persistence through multidisciplinary problem-solving exercises; Matific that provides interactive learning environments and adaptable worksheets; Plurall Store; Plurall Adapta for adaptive learning sessions; Plurall MeuProf to connect students with professors for private tutoring; Prepara to prepare students for external assessments; Leader in Me to develop socio-emotional competencies of K12 students; Education Systems, a structured teaching system for K12 students and teachers; and Prepara ENEM. Vasta Platform Limited was founded in 1966 and is based in São Paulo, Brazil.

About Skillful Craftsman Education Technology

Skillful Craftsman Education Technology Limited provides vocational online education and technology services to college students and graduates in the People's Republic of China. The company's education services cover a range of subjects, including vocational, continuing, basic, and higher education. It operates three education platforms, including the Lifelong Education Public Service Platform that offers approximately 200 courses; Vocational Training platform, which provides 642 courses covering mechanics, electronics, auto repair, and construction subjects; and Virtual Simulation Experimental Training platform that offers 12 experimental programs. The company also offers technology services, including software development and maintenance, hardware installation, and testing and related consulting and training services; and cloud services for private companies, academic institutions, and government agencies. In addition, it provides financial education services through financial investment educational platform, which offers global securities market, basic securities knowledge, fundamental analysis, and technical analysis courses; and flexible employment service by providing recruitment outsourcing services for employer's permanent staff hires. Skillful Craftsman Education Technology Limited was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Wuxi, the People's Republic of China.