Head-To-Head Analysis: Jabil (NYSE:JBL) versus ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS)

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) and ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.4% of Jabil shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.8% of ePlus shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Jabil shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of ePlus 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.

Profitability

This table compares Jabil and ePlus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jabil	2.57%	83.93%	5.65%
ePlus	4.91%	11.51%	6.73%

Dividends

Jabil pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. ePlus pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Jabil pays out 4.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ePlus pays out 23.6% 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.

Risk & Volatility

Jabil has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ePlus has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Jabil and ePlus”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Jabil	$29.80 billion	1.12	$657.00 million	$8.01	39.83
ePlus	$2.44 billion	0.96	$132.64 million	$4.57	19.56

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Jabil and ePlus, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jabil	0	1	8	1	3.00
ePlus	0	2	0	0	2.00

Jabil currently has a consensus target price of $441.78, indicating a potential upside of 38.46%. Given Jabil’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Jabil is more favorable than ePlus.

Summary

Jabil beats ePlus on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Jabil

Jabil Inc. provides manufacturing services and solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Electronics Manufacturing Services and Diversified Manufacturing Services. The company offers electronics design, production, and product management services; electronic circuit design services, such as application-specific integrated circuit design, firmware development, and rapid prototyping services; and designs plastic and metal enclosures that include the electro-mechanics, such as the printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA). It also provides three-dimensional mechanical design comprising the analysis of electronic, electro-mechanical, and optical assemblies, as well as various industrial design, mechanism development, and tooling management services. In addition, the company provides computer-assisted design services consisting of PCBA design, as well as PCBA design validation and verification services; and other consulting services, such as the generation of a bill of materials, approved vendor list, and assembly equipment configuration for various PCBA designs. Further, it offers product and process validation services, such as product system, product safety, regulatory compliance, and reliability tests, as well as manufacturing test solution development services. Additionally, the company provides systems assembly, test, direct-order fulfillment, and configure-to-order services. It serves 5G, wireless and cloud, digital print and retail, industrial and semi-cap, networking and storage, automotive and transportation, connected devices, healthcare and packaging, and mobility industries. The company was formerly known as Jabil Circuit, Inc. and changed its name to Jabil Inc. in June 2017. Jabil Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

About ePlus

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services. The Financing segment engages in financing arrangements, such as sales-type and operating leases; loans and consumption-based financing arrangements; and underwriting, management, and disposal of IT equipment and assets. Its financing operations comprise sales, pricing, credit, contracts, accounting, and risk and asset management. This segment primarily finances IT, communication-related, and medical equipment; and industrial machinery and equipment, office furniture and general office equipment, transportation equipment, and other general business equipment directly, as well as through vendors. The company serves commercial entities, state and local governments, government contractors, healthcare, and educational institutions. The company was formerly known as MLC Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to ePlus inc. in 1999. ePlus inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.