Head to Head Survey: TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) vs. Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL)

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) and Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.0% of Skillsoft shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of TransUnion shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.2% of Skillsoft shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for TransUnion and Skillsoft, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TransUnion	1	8	10	0	2.47
Skillsoft	1	2	0	0	1.67

TransUnion currently has a consensus target price of $90.72, suggesting a potential upside of 12.07%. Given TransUnion’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe TransUnion is more favorable than Skillsoft.

Volatility and Risk

TransUnion has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Skillsoft has a beta of 2.46, suggesting that its stock price is 146% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares TransUnion and Skillsoft”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TransUnion	$4.58 billion	3.37	$455.40 million	$4.11	19.70
Skillsoft	$505.09 million	0.05	-$139.82 million	($18.53)	-0.16

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

Profitability

This table compares TransUnion and Skillsoft’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TransUnion	15.83%	16.51%	6.77%
Skillsoft	-36.13%	-74.19%	4.10%

Summary

TransUnion beats Skillsoft on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TransUnion

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that helps businesses assess risk, prevent fraud and make informed decisions. Its services include credit reporting and scoring, identity verification, fraud detection, and data and analytics solutions for industries such as financial services, retail, insurance and telecommunications. The company also provides consumers with access to credit information and tools to monitor and manage their financial identities. Its offerings include credit reports, credit monitoring and identity-protection services.

About Skillsoft

Skillsoft Corporation is a provider of digital learning and talent development solutions for businesses, government organizations and other institutions. Its offerings are designed to help organizations build employee skills, support leadership development and meet professional and regulatory training requirements. The company’s portfolio includes Skillsoft Percipio, a cloud-based learning experience platform that provides access to courses, learning paths, videos, books and other educational content.