Contrasting NV5 Global (NASDAQ:NVEE) and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock (NASDAQ:PHLT)

NV5 Global (NASDAQ:NVEE) and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock (NASDAQ:PHLT) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

NV5 Global has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock has a beta of -0.11, indicating that its stock price is 111% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for NV5 Global and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NV5 Global	0	1	2	0	2.67
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	0	0	0	1	4.00

NV5 Global presently has a consensus price target of $25.67, indicating a potential upside of 69.75%. Given NV5 Global’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe NV5 Global is more favorable than Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.5% of NV5 Global shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.4% of NV5 Global shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.2% of Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NV5 Global and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NV5 Global	$941.27 million	1.05	$44.61 million	$0.49	30.86
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	$122.98 million	1.52	-$7.52 million	($0.13)	-18.38

NV5 Global has higher revenue and earnings than Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock. Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NV5 Global, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares NV5 Global and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NV5 Global	3.25%	9.34%	6.02%
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	-6.74%	-10.19%	-7.83%

Summary

NV5 Global beats Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NV5 Global

NV5 Global, Inc. provides technology, conformity assessment, consulting solutions, and software applications to public and private sector clients in the infrastructure, utility services, construction, real estate, environmental, and geospatial markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Infrastructure; Building, Technology & Sciences; and Geospatial Solutions. The company offers site selection and planning, design, water resources, structural engineering, land development, surveying, power delivery, building code compliance, and other services. It is also involved in the construction of highways, bridges and tunnels; development of rail and light rail systems; provision of services related to street and roadway construction; and construction materials testing and engineering, geotechnical engineering and consulting, and forensic consulting services. In addition, the company provides governmental outsourcing and consulting, and technical outsourcing services; and geospatial data analytic and mapping services, as well as remote sensing services. Further, it offers mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design; commissioning; energy performance, management, and optimization; climate change and reducing CO2 emissions; building program management; acoustical design consulting; and audiovisualsecurity and surveillanceinformation technologydata center services. Additionally, the company provides various services, such as investigating and analyzing environmental conditions, and recommending corrective measures and procedures; occupational health and safety services; radiation exposure and protection, and nuclear safety and industrial hygiene analyses services; hydrogeological modeling and environmental programs. The company was formerly known as NV5 Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to NV5 Global, Inc. in December 2015. NV5 Global, Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Hollywood, Florida.

About Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock

Performant Healthcare, Inc. engages in the provision of technology-enabled audit, recovery, customer care, and related analytics services. Its services help identify improper payments, and in some markets, restructure and recover delinquent or defaulted assets and improper payments for both government and private clients. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Plantation, FL.