Serco Group (SRP) Competitors

Serco Group (LON:SRP) and Intertek Group (LON:ITRK) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, media sentiment, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, SRP or ITRK?

Intertek Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Serco Group. Intertek Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Serco Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Serco Group	£4.85B	0.47	£130.15M	£0.05	4,467.15
Intertek Group	£3.40B	2.14	£307.45M	£2.24	2,094.15

Which has more risk and volatility, SRP or ITRK?

Serco Group has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Intertek Group has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor SRP or ITRK?

In the previous week, Serco Group had 4 more articles in the media than Intertek Group. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Serco Group and 2 mentions for Intertek Group. Serco Group's average media sentiment score of 1.02 beat Intertek Group's score of 0.48 indicating that Serco Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Serco Group	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Intertek Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer SRP or ITRK?

Serco Group currently has a consensus target price of GBX 247, suggesting a potential upside of 10.14%. Intertek Group has a consensus target price of GBX 5,300, suggesting a potential upside of 13.24%. Given Intertek Group's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Intertek Group is more favorable than Serco Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Serco Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Intertek Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of SRP or ITRK?

53.0% of Serco Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.6% of Intertek Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Serco Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Intertek Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SRP or ITRK a better dividend stock?

Serco Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Intertek Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 1.57 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Serco Group pays out 82.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Intertek Group pays out 70.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Intertek Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is SRP or ITRK more profitable?

Intertek Group has a net margin of 9.19% compared to Serco Group's net margin of 2.87%. Intertek Group's return on equity of 23.46% beat Serco Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Serco Group	2.87%	13.70%	4.45%
Intertek Group	9.19%	23.46%	9.49%

Summary

Intertek Group beats Serco Group on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.