Financial Contrast: Equifax (NYSE:EFX) and Experian (OTCMKTS:EXPGY)

Experian (OTCMKTS:EXPGY) and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Experian	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equifax	10.73%	21.61%	8.41%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Experian and Equifax, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Experian	0	0	1	1	3.50
Equifax	0	6	13	0	2.68

Equifax has a consensus price target of $215.79, indicating a potential upside of 22.05%. Given Equifax’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Equifax is more favorable than Experian.

Volatility & Risk

Experian has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equifax has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Experian	$8.45 billion	3.99	$1.50 billion	N/A	N/A
Equifax	$6.44 billion	3.22	$660.30 million	$5.69	31.07

Experian has higher revenue and earnings than Equifax.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.3% of Experian shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Equifax shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Experian shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Equifax shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Experian pays an annual dividend of $0.91 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equifax pays an annual dividend of $2.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Equifax pays out 39.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equifax has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Equifax beats Experian on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.