Reviewing BrightView (NYSE:BV) & APi Group (NYSE:APG)

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

Risk and Volatility

APi Group has a beta of 1.7, meaning that its stock price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BrightView has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares APi Group and BrightView”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
APi Group	$7.02 billion	2.54	$250.00 million	$0.37	115.76
BrightView	$2.67 billion	0.47	$56.00 million	$0.04	329.73

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.6% of APi Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of BrightView shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of APi Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of BrightView shares are held 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for APi Group and BrightView, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
APi Group	0	2	7	1	2.90
BrightView	1	3	2	2	2.63

APi Group presently has a consensus target price of $41.24, suggesting a potential downside of 3.72%. BrightView has a consensus target price of $14.70, suggesting a potential upside of 11.46%. Given BrightView’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe BrightView is more favorable than APi Group.

Profitability

This table compares APi Group and BrightView’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APi Group	3.44%	21.86%	8.08%
BrightView	2.10%	8.43%	3.21%

Summary

APi Group beats BrightView on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About APi Group

APi Group Corporation provides safety and specialty services worldwide. It operates through Safety Services and Specialty Services segments. The Safety Services segment offers solutions focusing on end-to-end integrated occupancy systems, such as fire protection services; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions; and entry systems, which include the design, installation, inspection, and service of these integrated systems. The Specialty Services segment provides various infrastructure and specialized industrial plant services, including maintenance and repair of underground electric, gas, water, sewer, and telecommunications infrastructure. This segment offers engineering and design, fabrication, installation, maintenance service and repair, retrofitting and upgrading services, pipeline infrastructure, access and road construction, supporting facilities, and integrity management and maintenance to the energy industry. It serves customers in the public and private sectors, including commercial, industrial, distribution and fulfillment centers, manufacturing, education, healthcare, telecom, utilities, transmission and integrity, high tech, entertainment, government, and infrastructure markets. The company was formerly known as J2 Acquisition Limited and changed its name to APi Group Corporation in October 2019. APi Group Corporation was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in New Brighton, Minnesota.

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.