Emerald (EEX) Competitors

Emerald (NYSE:EEX) and Herc (NYSE:HRI) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment and risk.

Is EEX or HRI more profitable?

Emerald has a net margin of 1.83% compared to Herc's net margin of 0.61%. Herc's return on equity of 20.77% beat Emerald's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Emerald	1.83%	2.03%	0.70%
Herc	0.61%	20.77%	3.38%

Is EEX or HRI a better dividend stock?

Emerald pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Herc pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Emerald pays out 120.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Herc pays out 325.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Herc has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Herc is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend EEX or HRI?

Emerald presently has a consensus target price of $7.90, suggesting a potential upside of 59.11%. Herc has a consensus target price of $144.60, suggesting a potential upside of 29.19%. Given Emerald's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Emerald is more favorable than Herc.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Emerald	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Herc	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in EEX or HRI?

14.9% of Emerald shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of Herc shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of Emerald shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Herc shares are held by 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.

Which has more volatility & risk, EEX or HRI?

Emerald has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Herc has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its share price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, EEX or HRI?

Herc has higher revenue and earnings than Emerald. Emerald is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Herc, 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
Emerald	$398.80M	2.46	$2.20M	$0.05	99.30
Herc	$3.57B	1.04	$211M	$0.86	130.15

Does the media favor EEX or HRI?

In the previous week, Emerald had 3 more articles in the media than Herc. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Emerald and 7 mentions for Herc. Emerald's average media sentiment score of 0.55 beat Herc's score of 0.33 indicating that Emerald is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Emerald	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Herc	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Herc beats Emerald on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.