Financial Comparison: Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) vs. Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC)

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 earnings, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.9% of Franklin Covey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Exponent shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.5% of Franklin Covey shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Exponent shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Franklin Covey has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exponent has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Franklin Covey	$287.23 million	0.81	$23.40 million	$0.79	23.16
Exponent	$560.51 million	6.00	$109.00 million	$2.00	33.30

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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Franklin Covey and Exponent, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Franklin Covey	1	0	2	0	2.33
Exponent	0	1	0	0	2.00

Franklin Covey currently has a consensus target price of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 47.54%. Given Franklin Covey’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Franklin Covey is more favorable than Exponent.

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.