ATIF (NASDAQ:ZBAI) & Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC) Critical Contrast

ATIF (NASDAQ:ZBAI) and Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

ATIF has a beta of -0.31, meaning that its stock price is 131% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Covey has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

69.9% of Franklin Covey shares are held by institutional investors. 32.2% of ATIF shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.2% of Franklin Covey shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares ATIF and Franklin Covey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ATIF	N/A	-59.44%	-54.65%
Franklin Covey	-0.54%	9.45%	2.84%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for ATIF and Franklin Covey, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ATIF	1	0	0	0	1.00
Franklin Covey	1	0	2	0	2.33

Franklin Covey has a consensus price target of $24.50, suggesting a potential upside of 26.46%. Given Franklin Covey’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Franklin Covey is more favorable than ATIF.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ATIF and Franklin Covey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ATIF	$1.20 million	5.34	-$4.60 million	($7.19)	-0.93
Franklin Covey	$267.07 million	0.87	$3.07 million	($0.12)	-161.45

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

Summary

Franklin Covey beats ATIF on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ATIF

ATIF Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of financial consulting services. It is also involved in merger and acquisition business advisory, post-listing compliance, management support, and related services. The company was founded on January 5, 2015 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, CA.

About Franklin Covey

Franklin Covey Co. provides training and consulting services in the areas of execution, sales performance, productivity, customer loyalty, and educational improvement for organizations and individuals worldwide. The company operates through Direct Offices, International Licensees, and Education Practice segments. It also provides a suite of individual-effectiveness and leadership-development training and products. In addition, the company operates Strive platform, a learning deployment platform; Impact platform that helps automate implementation of learning initiatives; All Access Pass, a subscription platform that enables improved deployment of content, services, technology, and metrics to deliver behavioral impact at scale; and Leader in Me, which provides access to digital versions of student leadership guides, leadership lessons, illustrated leadership stories, and other resources. Franklin Covey Co. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.