Head to Head Contrast: HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) versus UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS)

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) and UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for HireQuest and UL Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HireQuest	0	1	2	0	2.67
UL Solutions	0	5	7	0	2.58

HireQuest presently has a consensus price target of $19.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.20%. UL Solutions has a consensus price target of $95.88, indicating a potential upside of 30.53%. Given UL Solutions’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe UL Solutions is more favorable than HireQuest.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

12.0% of HireQuest shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.9% of HireQuest shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of UL Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

HireQuest has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UL Solutions has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares HireQuest and UL Solutions”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HireQuest	$30.64 million	8.12	$6.33 million	$0.57	31.39
UL Solutions	$3.05 billion	4.86	$325.00 million	$2.47	29.74

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

Dividends

HireQuest pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. UL Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. HireQuest pays out 42.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. UL Solutions pays out 23.5% 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.

Profitability

This table compares HireQuest and UL Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HireQuest	27.06%	16.35%	12.11%
UL Solutions	16.02%	28.81%	13.25%

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc. provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries. The company provides its services under the HireQuest Direct, HireQuest, SNelling, DriverQuest, HireQuest Health, Northbound Executive Search, and MRI trade names. It serves construction, recycling, warehousing, logistics, auctioneering, manufacturing, hospitality, landscaping, and retail industries, as well as dental practices. HireQuest, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

About UL Solutions

UL Solutions Inc. provides safety science services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Consumer, and Software and Advisory. The Industrial segment provides testing, inspection, and certification services across various end markets, including energy, industrial automation, engineered materials, and built environment, as well as stakeholders, such as manufacturers, building owners, end users, and regulators. The Consumer segment offers safety certification testing, ongoing certification, global market access, testing for connectivity, performance and quality, and critical systems advisory and training services, as well as product market acceptance and risk mitigation services for customers in the consumer products end markets comprising consumer electronics, medical devices, information technologies, appliances, HVAC, lighting, and retail, as well as consumer applications, such as new mobility, smart products, and 5G. The Software and Advisory segment provide software and technical advisory services that enable customers to manage regulatory requirements, deliver supply chain transparency, and operationalize sustainability for regulated industries, including life sciences, supply chain regulations, transparency needs, and new ESG and sustainability requirements. It offers ULTRUS software brand to help customers improve speed to market, sustainability and safety. UL Solutions Inc. was formerly known as UL Inc. and changed its name to UL Solutions Inc. in June 2022. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois with additional offices in North America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East. UL Solutions Inc. operates as a subsidiary of ULSE Inc.