Equifax (EFX) Competitors

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in VRSK or EFX?

90.0% of Verisk Analytics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Equifax shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Verisk Analytics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Equifax shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is VRSK or EFX more profitable?

Verisk Analytics has a net margin of 32.65% compared to Equifax's net margin of 10.63%. Verisk Analytics' return on equity of 274.13% beat Equifax's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Verisk Analytics	32.65%	274.13%	20.34%
Equifax	10.63%	19.13%	7.51%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer VRSK or EFX?

Equifax received 85 more outperform votes than Verisk Analytics when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.73% of users gave Verisk Analytics an outperform vote while only 63.78% of users gave Equifax an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Verisk Analytics	Outperform Votes 556 64.73%	Underperform Votes 303 35.27%
Equifax	Outperform Votes 641 63.78%	Underperform Votes 364 36.22%

Do analysts prefer VRSK or EFX?

Verisk Analytics presently has a consensus price target of $297.40, indicating a potential upside of 1.07%. Equifax has a consensus price target of $292.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.93%. Given Equifax's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Equifax is more favorable than Verisk Analytics.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Verisk Analytics	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
Equifax	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.79

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, VRSK or EFX?

Verisk Analytics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Equifax. Verisk Analytics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equifax, 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
Verisk Analytics	$2.88B	14.29	$614.60M	$6.70	43.92
Equifax	$5.73B	5.60	$604.10M	$4.89	52.88

Is VRSK or EFX a better dividend stock?

Verisk Analytics pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Equifax pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Verisk Analytics pays out 26.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equifax pays out 40.9% 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 & risk, VRSK or EFX?

Verisk Analytics has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equifax has a beta of 1.65, meaning that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer VRSK or EFX?

In the previous week, Equifax had 24 more articles in the media than Verisk Analytics. MarketBeat recorded 45 mentions for Equifax and 21 mentions for Verisk Analytics. Verisk Analytics' average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Equifax's score of 0.94 indicating that Verisk Analytics is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Verisk Analytics	17 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Equifax	24 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Equifax beats Verisk Analytics on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.