Serco Group (SRP) Competitors

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

Is ITRK or SRP 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
Intertek Group	9.19%	23.46%	9.49%
Serco Group	2.87%	13.70%	4.45%

Is ITRK or SRP a better dividend stock?

Intertek Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 128 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Serco Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Intertek Group pays out 66.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Serco Group pays out 31.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Which has more volatility and risk, ITRK or SRP?

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

Does the media favor ITRK or SRP?

In the previous week, Intertek Group had 2 more articles in the media than Serco Group. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Intertek Group and 1 mentions for Serco Group. Intertek Group's average media sentiment score of 0.26 beat Serco Group's score of 0.00 indicating that Intertek Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Intertek Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Serco 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 institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ITRK or SRP?

71.6% of Intertek Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.7% of Serco Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Intertek Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Serco Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer ITRK or SRP?

Intertek Group currently has a consensus price target of GBX 5,466.67, indicating a potential upside of 13.09%. Given Intertek Group's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Intertek Group is more favorable than Serco Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intertek Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Serco Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, ITRK or SRP?

Intertek Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Serco Group. Serco Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Intertek 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
Intertek Group	£3.34B	2.32	£307.45M	£191.86	25.20
Serco Group	£4.54B	0.46	£130.15M	£12.84	16.06

Summary

Intertek Group beats Serco Group on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.