Acacia Research (ACTG) Competitors

Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) and CRA International (NASDAQ:CRAI) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings and media sentiment.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ACTG or CRAI?

Acacia Research received 106 more outperform votes than CRA International when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.54% of users gave Acacia Research an outperform vote while only 59.53% of users gave CRA International an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Acacia Research	Outperform Votes 284 59.54%	Underperform Votes 193 40.46%
CRA International	Outperform Votes 178 59.53%	Underperform Votes 121 40.47%

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, ACTG or CRAI?

Acacia Research has higher earnings, but lower revenue than CRA International. Acacia Research is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CRA International, 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
Acacia Research	$222.41M	1.65	$67.06M	-$0.11	-34.73
CRA International	$697.48M	1.87	$38.48M	$7.41	25.81

Which has more risk & volatility, ACTG or CRAI?

Acacia Research has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CRA International has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ACTG or CRAI a better dividend stock?

Acacia Research pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.1%. CRA International pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Acacia Research pays out -454.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CRA International pays out 26.5% 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. CRA International has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Acacia Research is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts recommend ACTG or CRAI?

CRA International has a consensus price target of $224.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.12%. Given CRA International's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CRA International is more favorable than Acacia Research.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acacia Research	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
CRA International	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of ACTG or CRAI?

86.7% of Acacia Research shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.1% of CRA International shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Acacia Research shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of CRA International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is ACTG or CRAI more profitable?

Acacia Research has a net margin of 31.44% compared to CRA International's net margin of 6.79%. CRA International's return on equity of 25.95% beat Acacia Research's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acacia Research	31.44%	10.35%	8.94%
CRA International	6.79%	25.95%	9.39%

Does the media refer more to ACTG or CRAI?

In the previous week, CRA International had 6 more articles in the media than Acacia Research. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for CRA International and 1 mentions for Acacia Research. Acacia Research's average media sentiment score of 0.61 beat CRA International's score of 0.50 indicating that Acacia Research is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Acacia Research	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
CRA International	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

CRA International beats Acacia Research on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.