Contrasting Gartner (NYSE:IT) and Recruit (OTCMKTS:RCRUY)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Recruit and Gartner, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Recruit	0	1	0	0	2.00
Gartner	1	8	2	0	2.09

Gartner has a consensus price target of $189.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.67%. Given Gartner’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Gartner is more favorable than Recruit.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.5% of Gartner shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Gartner shares are owned 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 Recruit and Gartner’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Recruit	14.94%	35.54%	20.88%
Gartner	11.99%	525.46%	13.45%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Recruit and Gartner”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Recruit	$24.56 billion	6.74	$3.28 billion	$0.52	43.27
Gartner	$6.50 billion	1.89	$729.23 million	$11.15	17.42

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

Risk and Volatility

Recruit has a beta of 1.8, suggesting that its share price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gartner has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

About Recruit

Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. provides HR technology and business solutions that transforms the world of work. It operates through three segments: HR Technology, Matching & Solutions, and Staffing. The HR Technology segment provides various technological solutions that help job seekers and employers in navigating hiring and recruitment. The Matching & Solutions segment offers HR solutions that support business clients’ recruiting and hiring activities and individual users’ job search activities through its job advertising services and placement services. This segment also provides marketing solutions that provide matching platforms for businesses in various industries, including housing and real estate, beauty, bridal, travel, dining, and others, as well as SaaS solutions, which are business and management support tools for small and medium-sized companies. The Staffing segment provides temporary staffing services in Japan, Europe, the United States, and Australia. Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. operates in more than 60 countries. The company was formerly known as Recruit Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. in October 2012. Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. operates as a research and advisory company in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Research, Conferences, and Consulting. The Research segment delivers its research primarily through a subscription service that include on-demand access to published research content, data and benchmarks, and direct access to a network of research experts. The Conferences segment offers executives and teams in an organization the opportunity to learn, share, and network. The Consulting segment offers market-leading research, custom analysis, and on-the-ground support services. This segment also offers actionable solutions for IT-related priorities, including IT cost optimization, digital transformation, and IT sourcing optimization. Gartner, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.