FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN) and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for FTI Consulting and Equifax, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| FTI Consulting | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Equifax | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 2.50 |
FTI Consulting currently has a consensus price target of $171.00, indicating a potential upside of 46.88%. Equifax has a consensus price target of $178.3667, indicating a potential downside of 0.21%. Given FTI Consulting's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe FTI Consulting is more favorable than Equifax.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
97.3% of FTI Consulting shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.5% of Equifax shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of FTI Consulting shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Equifax shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares FTI Consulting and Equifax's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| FTI Consulting | 7.56% | 13.27% | 7.18% |
| Equifax | 11.29% | 29.20% | 9.34% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares FTI Consulting and Equifax's revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| FTI Consulting | $2.35 billion | 1.76 | $216.73 million | $5.80 | 20.07 |
| Equifax | $3.51 billion | 6.20 | $-398,800,000.00 | $5.62 | 31.80 |
FTI Consulting has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Equifax. FTI Consulting is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equifax, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
FTI Consulting has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equifax has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Equifax beats FTI Consulting on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
