Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK – Get Free Report) and DLH (NASDAQ:DLHC – Get Free Report) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
77.7% of Upwork shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.2% of DLH shares are held by institutional investors. 4.9% of Upwork shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.8% of DLH shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Upwork and DLH, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Upwork | 1 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2.15 |
| DLH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Upwork and DLH”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Upwork | $787.78 million | 1.36 | $115.43 million | $0.77 | 11.13 |
| DLH | $253.54 million | 0.24 | $1.36 million | ($1.48) | -2.87 |
Upwork has higher revenue and earnings than DLH. DLH is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Upwork, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Upwork and DLH’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Upwork | 12.94% | 16.70% | 7.94% |
| DLH | -8.51% | -10.42% | -4.04% |
Risk & Volatility
Upwork has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DLH has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its share price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Upwork beats DLH on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Upwork
Upwork Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a work marketplace that connects businesses with various independent professionals and agencies in the United States, India, the Philippines, and internationally. The company’s work marketplace provides access to talent with various skills across a range of categories, including administrative support, sales and marketing, design and creative, and customer service, as well as web, mobile, and software development. Its work marketplace also enables clients to streamline workflows, such as talent sourcing, outreach, and contracting. The company’s work marketplace offers access to various functionalities for remote engagements with talent, including communication and collaboration, ability to receive talent invoices through their work marketplace, and payment protection. Its marketplace offerings include Upwork Payroll and Upwork Enterprise, as well as managed and escrow services. The company was formerly known as Elance-oDesk, Inc. and changed its name to Upwork Inc. in May 2015. Upwork Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
About DLH
DLH Holdings Corp. provides technology-enabled business process outsourcing, program management solutions, and public health research and analytics services in the United States. It offers digital transformation and cyber security solutions, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud enablement, cybersecurity ecosystem, big data analytics, and modeling and simulation to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Health Agency, Tele-medicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, and US Navy Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC). The company also provides science research and development services and solutions, such as data analytics, testing and evaluation, clinical trials research services, and epidemiology studies to support multiple operating divisions, including NIH and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the Military Health System. In addition, it offers system engineering and integration solutions in the areas of pharmaceutical delivery logistics, fire protection engineering, biomedical equipment, and technology engineering on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs, NIWC, Health and Human Services, and other federal customers. The company also provides business process management services under the trademarks, e-PRAT and SPOT-m, as well as the registered trademark, Infinibyte for cloud-based solutions. The company was formerly known as TeamStaff, Inc. and changed its name to DLH Holdings Corp. in June 2012. DLH Holdings Corp. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
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