Analyzing Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC) & Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC) and Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Franklin Covey and Exponent, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Franklin Covey	0	0	2	0	3.00
Exponent	0	0	0	0	0.00

Franklin Covey presently has a consensus target price of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.23%. Given Franklin Covey’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Franklin Covey is more favorable than Exponent.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.9% of Franklin Covey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Exponent shares are held by institutional investors. 15.5% of Franklin Covey shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Exponent shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Franklin Covey and Exponent”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Franklin Covey	$287.23 million	0.87	$23.40 million	$0.79	25.09
Exponent	$560.51 million	6.25	$109.00 million	$2.00	34.67

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

Risk and Volatility

Franklin Covey has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exponent has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Franklin Covey and Exponent’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Franklin Covey	3.81%	19.08%	6.12%
Exponent	18.35%	24.19%	13.51%

Summary

Exponent beats Franklin Covey on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Franklin Covey

Franklin Covey Co. provides training and consulting services in the areas of execution, sales performance, productivity, customer loyalty, and educational improvement for organizations and individuals worldwide. The company operates through Direct Offices, International Licensees, and Education Practice segments. It also provides a suite of individual-effectiveness and leadership-development training and products. In addition, the company operates Strive platform, a learning deployment platform; Impact platform that helps automate implementation of learning initiatives; All Access Pass, a subscription platform that enables improved deployment of content, services, technology, and metrics to deliver behavioral impact at scale; and Leader in Me, which provides access to digital versions of student leadership guides, leadership lessons, illustrated leadership stories, and other resources. Franklin Covey Co. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About Exponent

Exponent, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a science and engineering consulting company in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Engineering and Other Scientific, and Environmental and Health. The Engineering and Other Scientific segment provides services in the areas of biomechanics, biomedical engineering and sciences, buildings and structures, civil engineering, construction consulting, data sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, human factors, materials and corrosion engineering, mechanical engineering, polymer science and materials chemistry, thermal sciences, and vehicle engineering. The Environmental and Health segment offers services in the areas of chemical regulation and food safety, ecological and biological sciences, environmental and earth sciences, and health sciences. The company offers approximately 90 technical disciplines to solve pressing and complicated challenges facing stakeholders. It serves clients in chemical, construction, consumer products, energy, food, beverage and nutrition, government, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, technology, industrial equipment, transportation, and other sectors of the economy. The company was formerly known as The Failure Group, Inc. and changed its name to Exponent, Inc. in 1998. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.