Comparing Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) & Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL)

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) and Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Charles River Associates and Skillsoft, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Charles River Associates	0	1	1	0	2.50
Skillsoft	1	2	0	0	1.67

Charles River Associates presently has a consensus price target of $245.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.09%. Given Charles River Associates’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Charles River Associates is more favorable than Skillsoft.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.1% of Charles River Associates shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of Skillsoft shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Charles River Associates shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.2% of Skillsoft 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.

Volatility & Risk

Charles River Associates has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Skillsoft has a beta of 2.41, indicating that its share price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Charles River Associates and Skillsoft’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Charles River Associates	N/A	N/A	N/A
Skillsoft	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Charles River Associates and Skillsoft”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Charles River Associates	$794.64 million	1.53	$47.14 million	$7.51	25.87
Skillsoft	$505.09 million	0.09	-$168.62 million	($18.53)	-0.28

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

Summary

Charles River Associates beats Skillsoft on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Charles River Associates

CRA International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides economic, financial, and management consulting services worldwide. It advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings; and guides corporations through business strategy and performance-related issues. The company also offers consulting services, including research and analysis, expert testimony, and support in litigation and regulatory proceedings in the areas of finance, accounting, economics, insurance, and forensic accounting and investigations to corporate clients and attorneys. In addition, it offers management consulting services comprising strategy development, performance improvement, corporate strategy and portfolio analysis, estimation of market demand, environmental, social and corporate governance and sustainability strategy and analysis, design and implementation of auction and bidding, new product pricing strategies, survey and market research, valuation of intellectual property and other assets, assessment of competitors’ actions, and analysis of new sources of supply. The company serves various industries, including communications and media; consumer, health, and wellness products; energy; entertainment and leisure; financial services; healthcare; life sciences; manufacturing and industries; natural resources; retail and distribution; technology; and transportation. CRA International, Inc. was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Skillsoft

Skillsoft Corp. provides content and platform and instructor-led training services in the United States and internationally. The company's Content & Platform segment engages in the sale, marketing, and delivery of its content learning solutions in areas, such as leadership and business, technology and developer, and compliance comprising individualized coaching, as well as technical skill areas. This segment also offers Percipio, an AI-driven online learning platform that delivers a learning experience through SaaS solutions. Its Instructor-Led Training segment provides training solutions, including information technology and business skills for corporations and their employees by guiding its customers throughout their lifelong technology learning journey by offering relevant and up-to-date skills training through instructor-led and self-paced, vendor certified, and other proprietary offerings. The company markets and sells their offerings to businesses of many sizes, government agencies, educational institutions, and resellers. Skillsoft Corp. is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.