Critical Review: Equifax (NYSE:EFX) versus PAGEGROUP (OTCMKTS:MPGPF)

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) and PAGEGROUP (OTCMKTS:MPGPF) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equifax	$5.68 billion	5.36	$604.10 million	$5.11	48.17
PAGEGROUP	$2.22 billion	0.56	$36.35 million	N/A	N/A

Equifax has higher revenue and earnings than PAGEGROUP.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.2% of Equifax shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Equifax shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Equifax and PAGEGROUP’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equifax	10.95%	18.89%	7.84%
PAGEGROUP	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Equifax and PAGEGROUP, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equifax	0	6	12	1	2.74
PAGEGROUP	0	2	0	1	2.67

Equifax presently has a consensus target price of $283.53, indicating a potential upside of 15.20%. Given Equifax’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Equifax is more favorable than PAGEGROUP.

Risk & Volatility

Equifax has a beta of 1.68, meaning that its stock price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PAGEGROUP has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Equifax beats PAGEGROUP on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equifax

Equifax Inc. operates as a data, analytics, and technology company. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers services that enables customers to verify income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, and sanctions of people in the United States; and employer customers with services that assist them in complying with and automating payroll-related and human resource management processes throughout the entire cycle of the employment relationship. The USIS segment provides consumer and commercial information services, such as credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting services; mortgage services; financial marketing services; identity management services; and credit monitoring products. The International segment offers information service products, which include consumer and commercial services, such as credit and financial information, and credit scoring and modeling; and credit and other marketing products and services, as well as offers information, technology, and other services to support debt collections and recovery management. The company serves customers in financial services, mortgage, retail, telecommunications, utilities, automotive, brokerage, healthcare, and insurance industries, as well as government agencies. It operates in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About PAGEGROUP

PageGroup plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides recruitment consultancy and other ancillary services in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and the Americas. It offers executive search services, such as search, selection, and talent management solutions for organizations on a permanent and interim basis under the Page Executive brand; and recruitment services for qualified professional and management level on permanent, temporary, and contract or interim basis under the Michael Page brand. The company also provides recruitment services to organizations requiring permanent employees, temporary, or contract staff at technical and administrative support, professional clerical, and junior management levels under the Page Personnel brand; and flexible recruitment outsourcing services under the Page Outsourcing brand. In addition, it is involved in the provision of IT consultancy services. The company was formerly known as Michael Page International plc and changed its name to PageGroup plc in June 2016. PageGroup plc was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Addlestone, the United Kingdom.