Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Head to Head Review

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) and Equifax (NYSE:EFX) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Booz Allen Hamilton and Equifax”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Booz Allen Hamilton	$11.98 billion	1.05	$935.00 million	$8.14	12.56
Equifax	$5.68 billion	5.61	$604.10 million	$5.11	50.39

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

Risk & Volatility

Booz Allen Hamilton has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equifax has a beta of 1.68, meaning that its share price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.8% of Booz Allen Hamilton shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Equifax shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Booz Allen Hamilton shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Equifax shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Booz Allen Hamilton and Equifax’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Booz Allen Hamilton	8.70%	73.05%	11.61%
Equifax	10.95%	18.89%	7.84%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Booz Allen Hamilton and Equifax, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Booz Allen Hamilton	2	6	3	1	2.25
Equifax	0	6	12	1	2.74

Booz Allen Hamilton currently has a consensus price target of $134.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.09%. Equifax has a consensus price target of $284.80, indicating a potential upside of 10.60%. Given Booz Allen Hamilton’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Booz Allen Hamilton is more favorable than Equifax.

Dividends

Booz Allen Hamilton pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Equifax pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booz Allen Hamilton pays out 27.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equifax pays out 39.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Booz Allen Hamilton has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Equifax has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Booz Allen Hamilton is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Booz Allen Hamilton beats Equifax on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation provides management and technology consulting, analytics, engineering, digital solutions, mission operations, and cyber services to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and internationally. It focuses on artificial intelligence services comprising of machine learning, predictive modeling, automation and decision analytics, and quantum computing. The company offers artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer network related operations. In addition, it provides data science, engineering, visualization, and analysis related capabilities. Further, the company engages in user experience, user interface, graphic and web design, design thinking, sketching, and digital product design capabilities. Additionally, it architects and engineers help accelerate, scale, secure, and transform mission and business outcomes using the technologies and partner offering; offers software engineering in agile practices, DevSecOps, automation and Cloud, and Low/No Code Platform engineering; systems and digital engineering; and tech strategy and product management. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

About Equifax

Equifax Inc. operates as a data, analytics, and technology company. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers services that enables customers to verify income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, and sanctions of people in the United States; and employer customers with services that assist them in complying with and automating payroll-related and human resource management processes throughout the entire cycle of the employment relationship. The USIS segment provides consumer and commercial information services, such as credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting services; mortgage services; financial marketing services; identity management services; and credit monitoring products. The International segment offers information service products, which include consumer and commercial services, such as credit and financial information, and credit scoring and modeling; and credit and other marketing products and services, as well as offers information, technology, and other services to support debt collections and recovery management. The company serves customers in financial services, mortgage, retail, telecommunications, utilities, automotive, brokerage, healthcare, and insurance industries, as well as government agencies. It operates in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.