UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) & BrightView (NYSE:BV) Financial Comparison

UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) and BrightView (NYSE:BV) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

UL Solutions has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BrightView has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares UL Solutions and BrightView”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UL Solutions	$2.87 billion	5.55	$326.00 million	$1.62	48.92
BrightView	$2.77 billion	0.45	$66.40 million	$0.03	436.10

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.4% of BrightView shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of UL Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of BrightView shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares UL Solutions and BrightView’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UL Solutions	11.08%	37.33%	12.76%
BrightView	2.00%	8.76%	3.33%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for UL Solutions and BrightView, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UL Solutions	0	4	4	0	2.50
BrightView	2	2	4	0	2.25

UL Solutions presently has a consensus target price of $71.57, indicating a potential downside of 9.68%. BrightView has a consensus target price of $17.98, indicating a potential upside of 37.43%. Given BrightView’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe BrightView is more favorable than UL Solutions.

Summary

UL Solutions beats BrightView on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UL Solutions

UL Solutions Inc. provides safety science services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Consumer, and Software and Advisory. The Industrial segment provides testing, inspection, and certification services across various end markets, including energy, industrial automation, engineered materials, and built environment, as well as stakeholders, such as manufacturers, building owners, end users, and regulators. The Consumer segment offers safety certification testing, ongoing certification, global market access, testing for connectivity, performance and quality, and critical systems advisory and training services, as well as product market acceptance and risk mitigation services for customers in the consumer products end markets comprising consumer electronics, medical devices, information technologies, appliances, HVAC, lighting, and retail, as well as consumer applications, such as new mobility, smart products, and 5G. The Software and Advisory segment provide software and technical advisory services that enable customers to manage regulatory requirements, deliver supply chain transparency, and operationalize sustainability for regulated industries, including life sciences, supply chain regulations, transparency needs, and new ESG and sustainability requirements. It offers ULTRUS software brand to help customers improve speed to market, sustainability and safety. UL Solutions Inc. was formerly known as UL Inc. and changed its name to UL Solutions Inc. in June 2022. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois with additional offices in North America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East. UL Solutions Inc. operates as a subsidiary of ULSE Inc.

About BrightView

BrightView Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides commercial landscaping services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Maintenance Services and Development Services. The Maintenance Services segment delivers a suite of recurring commercial landscaping services, including mowing, gardening, mulching and snow removal, water management, irrigation maintenance, tree care, golf course maintenance, and specialty turf maintenance. Its customers' properties include corporate and commercial properties, homeowners associations, public parks, hotels and resorts, airport authorities, municipalities, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, educational institutions, restaurants and retail, and golf courses. This segment's customer base includes approximately 8,800 office parks and corporate campuses 7,100 residential communities, and 550 educational institutions. The Development Services segment offers landscape architecture and development services for new facilities and redesign projects. Its services include project design and management services, landscape architecture and installation, irrigation installation, tree moving and installation, pool and water features, sports field, and other services. BrightView Holdings, Inc. also operates as official field consultant to various league baseball. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.