Contrasting Experian (OTCMKTS:EXPGF) & Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA)

Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA) and Experian (OTCMKTS:EXPGF) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.3% of Kelly Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.0% of Experian shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Kelly Services shares are held by company 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 breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Kelly Services and Experian, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kelly Services	1	1	2	0	2.25
Experian	0	0	0	0	0.00

Kelly Services currently has a consensus target price of $15.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.25%. Given Kelly Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Kelly Services is more favorable than Experian.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kelly Services and Experian”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kelly Services	$4.25 billion	0.12	-$254.10 million	($7.60)	-2.00
Experian	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.84	45.72

Experian has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Kelly Services. Kelly Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Experian, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Kelly Services and Experian’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kelly Services	-6.73%	2.69%	1.19%
Experian	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Kelly Services pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Experian pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Kelly Services pays out -3.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Experian pays out 44.9% 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. Kelly Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Kelly Services beats Experian on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kelly Services

Kelly Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides workforce solutions to various industries. The company operates through five segments: Professional & Industrial; Science, Engineering & Technology; Education; Outsourcing & Consulting; and International. The Professional & Industrial segment delivers staffing, outcome-based, and permanent placement services providing administrative, accounting, and finance; light industrial; contact center staffing; and other workforce solutions. The Science, Engineering & Technology segment offers staffing, outcome-based, and permanent placement services in the areas of science and clinical research, engineering, technology, and telecommunications specialties. The Education segment provides staffing, permanent placement, and executive search services to pre-K-12 school districts and education organizations. The Outsourcing & Consulting segment offers managed service provider, recruitment process outsourcing, payroll process outsourcing, and executive coaching programs to customers on a global basis that includes its RocketPower brand. The International segment provides staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, and permanent placement services. The company serves customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Russia, Italy, rest of Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Kelly Services, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Troy, Michigan.

About Experian

Experian plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a technology company in North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Business-to-Business and Consumer Services. The company collects, sorts, aggregates, and transforms data from various sources to provide a range of data-driven services. It also owns, create, and develops analytics, predictive tools, sophisticated software, and platforms; credit risk, fraud prevention, identity management, customer service and engagement, account processing, and account management services; data analysis, and research and development services. In addition, the company provides credit education, free access to Experian credit reports and scores, and online educational tools. It serves its customers in financial service, direct-to-consumer, health, retail, automotive, software and professional services, telecoms and utility, insurance, media and technology, and other industries, as well as government and public sectors. The company was formerly known as Experian Group Limited and changed its name to Experian plc in July 2008. Experian plc was founded in 1826 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.