EFX vs. VRSK, FCN, EXPO, DNB, CBZ, ICFI, HURN, VSEC, CRAI, and FC
Should you be buying Equifax stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Equifax include Verisk Analytics (VRSK), FTI Consulting (FCN), Exponent (EXPO), Dun & Bradstreet (DNB), CBIZ (CBZ), ICF International (ICFI), Huron Consulting Group (HURN), VSE (VSEC), CRA International (CRAI), and Franklin Covey (FC). These companies are all part of the "research & consulting services" industry.
Equifax (NYSE:EFX) and Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, community ranking, risk, valuation and dividends.
96.2% of Equifax shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Verisk Analytics shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Equifax shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Verisk Analytics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, Equifax had 17 more articles in the media than Verisk Analytics. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for Equifax and 14 mentions for Verisk Analytics. Verisk Analytics' average media sentiment score of 0.73 beat Equifax's score of 0.45 indicating that Verisk Analytics is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Equifax has a beta of 1.56, meaning that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Verisk Analytics has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Equifax pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Verisk Analytics pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Equifax pays out 34.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Verisk Analytics pays out 29.1% 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.
Verisk Analytics has a net margin of 28.45% compared to Equifax's net margin of 10.67%. Verisk Analytics' return on equity of 268.19% beat Equifax's return on equity.
Equifax received 63 more outperform votes than Verisk Analytics when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.96% of users gave Verisk Analytics an outperform vote while only 63.01% of users gave Equifax an outperform vote.
Equifax presently has a consensus target price of $287.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.62%. Verisk Analytics has a consensus target price of $258.54, suggesting a potential downside of 7.65%. Given Equifax's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Equifax is more favorable than Verisk Analytics.
Verisk Analytics has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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.
Summary
Equifax beats Verisk Analytics on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding EFX and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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