Reviewing Insperity (NYSE:NSP) and Gartner (NYSE:IT)

Gartner (NYSE:IT) and Insperity (NYSE:NSP) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Gartner and Insperity”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gartner	$6.50 billion	1.74	$729.23 million	$11.15	16.06
Insperity	$6.87 billion	0.27	-$7.00 million	($0.43)	-111.48

Gartner has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Insperity. Insperity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gartner, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Gartner and Insperity’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gartner	11.99%	525.46%	13.45%
Insperity	-0.23%	-19.99%	-0.60%

Volatility & Risk

Gartner has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Insperity has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Gartner and Insperity, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gartner	2	6	2	1	2.18
Insperity	2	2	1	0	1.80

Gartner presently has a consensus target price of $187.30, indicating a potential upside of 4.58%. Insperity has a consensus target price of $53.33, indicating a potential upside of 11.25%. Given Insperity’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Insperity is more favorable than Gartner.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.5% of Gartner shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.4% of Insperity shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Gartner shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.8% of Insperity shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Gartner beats Insperity on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. operates as a research and advisory company in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Research, Conferences, and Consulting. The Research segment delivers its research primarily through a subscription service that include on-demand access to published research content, data and benchmarks, and direct access to a network of research experts. The Conferences segment offers executives and teams in an organization the opportunity to learn, share, and network. The Consulting segment offers market-leading research, custom analysis, and on-the-ground support services. This segment also offers actionable solutions for IT-related priorities, including IT cost optimization, digital transformation, and IT sourcing optimization. Gartner, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About Insperity

Insperity, Inc. engages in the provision of human resources (HR) and business solutions to improve business performance for small and medium-sized businesses primarily in the United States. It offers its HR services through its workforce optimization and workforce synchronization solutions that include a range of human resources functions, such as payroll and employment administration, employee benefits, workers' compensation, government compliance, performance management, and training and development services. The company also provides Insperity Premier, a cloud-based human capital management platform that offers professional employer organization HR outsourcing solutions to its clients; people management services; and employer liability management services, as well as solutions for middle market. In addition, it offers MarketPlace, an e-commerce portal that offers a range of products and services; and Workforce Acceleration, a human capital management and payroll services solution; integrated payroll; benefits administration; HR administration and employee onboarding; time and attendance; performance management; reporting and analytics; recruiting; employment screening; retirement; and insurance services. The company was formerly known as Administaff, Inc. and changed its name to Insperity, Inc. in March 2011. Insperity, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Kingwood, Texas.