3 Undervalued Advertising & Marketing Stocks for Thursday, February 02

By Jenna Brashear
February 02, 2023
Diamond graphic indicating best value stocks in their industry
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Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 3 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Advertising & Marketing industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Latest Advertising & Marketing Stock News

Before choosing which top Advertising & Marketing stock to buy, be sure to conduct proper due diligence: analyze various financial metrics and look at historical data, public statements and news coverage.

The outlook for the advertising subindustry is neutral. There are growth prospects, supported by exposure to emerging market consumers and enhanced digital capabilities on new advertising technologies for data and analytics. However, global economic outlook has been significantly hampered by the global pandemic, precipitating a U.S. (and global) economic recession and some likely pullback of discretionary spending by several marketers. This provides potential for a revenue shortfall in the U.S. and some international markets. With growing share of advertising spending shifting toward the internet and other digital platforms. Despite the decline in traditional ratings, television advertising will likely continue to garner the bulk of the overall spending, thanks in part to marketers looking for mass audiences. In 2020, the S&P Advertising subindustry Index fell 11.5% versus a 15.8% increase for the S&P Composite 1500 Index.

Why Focus on Undervalued Advertising & Marketing Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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3 Undervalued Advertising & Marketing Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Advertising & Marketing industry for Thursday, February 02, 2023. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Advertising & Marketing industry median.

Company Ticker Price/Sales Price/Earnings EV/EBITDA Shareholder Yield Price/Book Value Price/Free Cash Flow Value Grade
Fluent Inc FLNT 0.29 na 4.5 (1.8%) 0.68 4.1 A
Iclick Interactive Asia Group Ltd ICLK 0.20 na 0.6 (929.4%) 0.20 na A
Townsquare Media Inc TSQ 0.28 13.4 5.6 (4.0%) 2.09 3.8 B

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

Fluent Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score FLNT Industry Median
Price/Sales 9 0.29 0.85
Price/Earnings na na 15.2
EV/EBITDA 20 4.5 7.0
Shareholder Yield 62 (1.8%) (1.7%)
Price/Book Value 13 0.68 1.80
Price/Free Cash Flow 10 4.1 11.4

Fluent, Inc. is engaged in data-driven digital marketing services. The Company conducts customer acquisition services by operating digital marketing campaigns, through which it connects its advertiser clients with consumers they are seeking to reach. Its segments include Fluent and All Other. It delivers data and performance-based marketing executions to its clients, which consists of about 500 consumer brands, direct marketers, and agencies across a range of industries, including media and entertainment, financial products and services, health and wellness, retail and consumer and staffing and recruitment. It primarily provides performance marketing solutions to its clients based on their desired outcomes, or specific actions in their marketing funnels, including the submission of a registration form, an application installation, or a completed transaction. Its owned and operated media properties include Flash Rewards, The Smart Wallet and Find Dream Job to meet its clients needs.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Fluent Inc has a Value Score of 92, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Fluent Inc’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.29 compared to the industry median at 0.85, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Fluent Inc’s stock more attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess Fluent Inc’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 4.5, when compared to the industry median of 7.0, the company may be considered undervalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Fluent Inc’s shareholder yield is lower than its industry median ratio of (1.73%). Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Fluent Inc’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.80. This could make Fluent Inc more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Fluent Inc’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. Fluent Inc’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 11.44. This could make Fluent Inc more attractive because the lower P/FCF ratio indicates that Fluent Inc is undervalued. The P/FCF ratio metric can also be viewed over a long-term time frame to see if the company's cash flow to share price value is generally improving or worsening.

Iclick Interactive Asia Group Ltd’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score ICLK Industry Median
Price/Sales 6 0.20 0.85
Price/Earnings na na 15.2
EV/EBITDA 3 0.6 7.0
Shareholder Yield 100 (929.4%) (1.7%)
Price/Book Value 2 0.20 1.80
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 11.4

iClick Interactive Asia Group Ltd is an online marketing technology company. The Company serves as an integrated cross-channel gateway that provides marketers ways to optimize their online marketing cycle. Its integrated data-driven solutions help marketers identify, engage and activate potential customers, monitor and measure the results of marketing campaigns, and create content catering to potential customers across different content distribution channels through both PC and mobile devices. Its solutions are enabled and supported by data set, sophisticated data analytics capabilities and cutting edge technologies. It collects data from a variety of channels, including through its proprietary tracking tools, from marketers, publishers and ad exchanges when managing marketing campaigns, and to a lesser extent, from third-party strategic partners.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Iclick Interactive Asia Group Ltd has a Value Score of 87, which is considered to be undervalued.

Iclick Interactive Asia Group Ltd’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Iclick Interactive Asia Group Ltd less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.80.

You can read more about Iclick Interactive Asia Group Ltd’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Townsquare Media Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score TSQ Industry Median
Price/Sales 9 0.28 0.85
Price/Earnings 41 13.4 15.2
EV/EBITDA 26 5.6 7.0
Shareholder Yield 70 (4.0%) (1.7%)
Price/Book Value 60 2.09 1.80
Price/Free Cash Flow 9 3.8 11.4

Townsquare Media, Inc. is a community-focused digital media and digital marketing solutions company. The Company’s integrated and diversified products and solutions enable local, regional and national advertisers to target audiences across multiple platforms, including digital, mobile, social, video, streaming, e-commerce, radio and events. It has three segments: Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions, Digital Advertising and Broadcast Advertising. The Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions segment includes its subscription digital marketing solutions business, Townsquare Interactive. The Digital Advertising segment, which it markets externally as Townsquare Ignite, includes digital advertising on its owned and operated digital properties and its digital programmatic advertising platform. The Broadcast Advertising segment includes its local, regional and national advertising products and solutions delivered via terrestrial radio broadcast and broadcast advertising platform.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Townsquare Media Inc has a Value Score of 75, which is considered to be undervalued.

Townsquare Media Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 13.4 compared to the industry median at 15.2. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Townsquare Media Inc more attractive for value investors.

Townsquare Media Inc’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Townsquare Media Inc more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.80.

You can read more about Townsquare Media Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

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Other Advertising & Marketing Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Advertising & Marketing stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 3 Best Advertising & Marketing Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

  • Fluent Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.
  • Iclick Interactive Asia Group Ltd stock has a Value Grade of A.
  • Townsquare Media Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Advertising & Marketing industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

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Additional Resources About Advertising & Marketing Stocks

Want to learn more about Advertising & Marketing stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



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