Critical Comparison: FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN) & CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ)

FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN) and CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.4% of FTI Consulting shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of CBIZ shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of FTI Consulting shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of CBIZ shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares FTI Consulting and CBIZ’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FTI Consulting	6.82%	12.88%	7.90%
CBIZ	4.51%	14.73%	6.10%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for FTI Consulting and CBIZ, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FTI Consulting	0	2	1	0	2.33
CBIZ	0	0	1	0	3.00

FTI Consulting presently has a consensus target price of $175.50, suggesting a potential upside of 4.44%. Given FTI Consulting’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe FTI Consulting is more favorable than CBIZ.

Volatility & Risk

FTI Consulting has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CBIZ has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares FTI Consulting and CBIZ”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FTI Consulting	$3.66 billion	1.48	$280.09 million	$7.10	23.67
CBIZ	$1.81 billion	1.98	$41.04 million	$1.74	38.23

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

Summary

FTI Consulting beats CBIZ on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FTI Consulting

FTI Consulting, Inc. provides business advisory services to manage change, mitigate risk, and resolve disputes worldwide. The company operates through Corporate Finance & Restructuring, Forensic and Litigation Consulting, Economic Consulting, Technology, and Strategic Communications segments. The Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment provides business transformation and strategy, transactions, and turnaround and restructuring services. The Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment offers construction and environmental solutions, data and analytics, disputes, health solutions, and risk and investigation services. The Economic Consulting segment provides antitrust and competition economics, financial economics, and international arbitration services. The Technology segment offers corporate legal department consulting; e-discovery and expertise; and information governance, privacy, and security services. The Strategic Communications segment provides corporate reputation, financial communications, and public affairs services. It serves aerospace and defense, airlines and aviation, blockchain and digital assets, chemicals, construction and environmental solutions, energy, financial services, food and agriculture, healthcare and life sciences, hospitality, gaming and leisure, automotive and industrial, insurance, mining, private equity, power and renewable, public sector and government contracts, real estate, retail and consumer products, telecom, media and technology, and transportation and logistics sectors. FTI Consulting, Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.

About CBIZ

CBIZ, Inc. provides financial, insurance, and advisory services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Financial Services, Benefits and Insurance Services, and National Practices segments. The Financial Services segment offers accounting and tax, financial advisory, valuation, risk and advisory, and government healthcare consulting services. The Benefits and Insurance Services provides employee benefits consulting, payroll/human capital management, property and casualty insurance, and retirement and investment services. The National Practices segment offers information technology managed networking and hardware, and health care consulting services. The company primarily serves small and medium-sized businesses, as well as individuals, governmental entities, and not-for-profit enterprises. CBIZ, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Independence, Ohio.