Sound Group (NASDAQ:SOGP) and Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) Critical Review

Sound Group (NASDAQ:SOGP) and Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Sound Group has a beta of 1.62, meaning that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Blend Labs has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Sound Group and Blend Labs, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sound Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Blend Labs	0	2	6	1	2.89

Blend Labs has a consensus price target of $5.11, suggesting a potential upside of 30.45%. Given Blend Labs’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Blend Labs is more favorable than Sound Group.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sound Group and Blend Labs”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sound Group	$291.80 million	0.04	-$17.84 million	N/A	N/A
Blend Labs	$156.85 million	6.39	-$178.69 million	($0.34)	-11.51

Sound Group has higher revenue and earnings than Blend Labs.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.6% of Sound Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.6% of Blend Labs shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.2% of Sound Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.2% of Blend Labs shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Sound Group and Blend Labs’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sound Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Blend Labs	-49.34%	N/A	-34.07%

About Sound Group

Sound Group Inc. operates as an audio-centric social and entertainment company. It focuses on building audio platform to connect and communicate. The company, through its product portfolio and in-house technologies, caters to user interest in audio entertainment and social networking. The company was formerly known as LIZHI INC. and changed its name to Sound Group Inc. in January 2024. Sound Group Inc. was founded in 2010 and is based in Singapore.

About Blend Labs

Blend Labs, Inc. engages in the provision of cloud-based software platform solutions for financial services firms in the United States. It operates in two segments, Blend Platform and Title365. The company's Blend Builder Platform offers a suite of products that powers digital-first consumer journeys for mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, vehicle loans, personal loans, credit cards, and deposit accounts; and offers mortgage products to facilitate the homeownership journey for consumers comprising close, income verification for mortgage, homeowners' insurance, and realty. It also offers verification components to automate confirmation tasks that are needed to underwrite a loan or approve the opening of a new deposit account; decisioning components to reduce the need for human intervention by automatically applying business rules throughout an application workflow configured by a financial services firm; workflow intelligence components to manage data collection and automate tasks throughout the loan origination process; and marketplace components to enable consumers to shop for products and services presented at the precise moment of need during an application for a loan. In addition, the company, through its subsidiary, offers title search procedures for title insurance policies, escrow, and other closing and settlement services, as well as other trustee services; and provides professional and consulting services. It serves banks, credit unions, fintechs, and non-bank mortgage lenders. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.