Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) and Jabil (NYSE:JBL) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
96.1% of Mercury Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of Jabil shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Mercury Systems shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Jabil shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Mercury Systems and Jabil's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| Mercury Systems | 10.76% | 7.92% | 6.65% |
| Jabil | 0.20% | 5.25% | 0.67% |
Risk & Volatility
Mercury Systems has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Jabil has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings for Mercury Systems and Jabil, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| Mercury Systems | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.88 |
| Jabil | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2.56 |
Mercury Systems presently has a consensus price target of $93.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.18%. Jabil has a consensus price target of $39.1250, suggesting a potential upside of 10.03%. Given Mercury Systems' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Mercury Systems is more favorable than Jabil.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Mercury Systems and Jabil's top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| Mercury Systems | $796.61 million | 5.35 | $85.71 million | $1.92 | 39.65 |
| Jabil | $27.27 billion | 0.20 | $53.91 million | $0.35 | 101.60 |
Mercury Systems has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Jabil. Mercury Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Jabil, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Mercury Systems beats Jabil on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
