UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) & Wolters Kluwer (OTCMKTS:WTKWY) Financial Comparison

Wolters Kluwer (OTCMKTS:WTKWY) and UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Wolters Kluwer and UL Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wolters Kluwer	1	0	3	0	2.50
UL Solutions	0	6	4	0	2.40

UL Solutions has a consensus price target of $87.60, suggesting a potential upside of 3.49%. Given UL Solutions’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe UL Solutions is more favorable than Wolters Kluwer.

Profitability

This table compares Wolters Kluwer and UL Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wolters Kluwer	N/A	N/A	N/A
UL Solutions	10.61%	31.62%	12.55%

Dividends

Wolters Kluwer pays an annual dividend of $1.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. UL Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. UL Solutions pays out 36.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wolters Kluwer	$6.93 billion	2.54	$1.48 billion	N/A	N/A
UL Solutions	$3.05 billion	5.57	$325.00 million	$1.59	53.24

Wolters Kluwer has higher revenue and earnings than UL Solutions.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Wolters Kluwer shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of UL Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Wolters Kluwer has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UL Solutions has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

UL Solutions beats Wolters Kluwer on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer N.V. provides professional information, software solutions, and services in the Netherlands, rest of Europe, the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through Health; Tax & Accounting; Financial & Corporate Compliance; Legal & Regulatory; and Corporate Performance & ESG segments. The Health segment offers clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that drive effective decision-making and improved outcomes across healthcare. It serves hospitals, healthcare organizations, clinicians, students, schools, libraries, payers, life sciences, and pharmacies. The Tax & Accounting segment offers solutions that help tax, accounting, and audit professionals to drive productivity, navigate change, and deliver better outcomes. It serves accounting firms, tax and auditing departments, businesses of all sizes, government agencies, libraries, and universities. The Financial & Corporate Compliance segment offers solutions for legal entity compliance and banking product compliance. It serves corporations, small businesses, law firms, banks, non-bank lenders, credit unions, insurers, and securities firms. The Legal & Regulatory segment provides information, insights, and workflow solutions for changing regulatory obligations, managing risk, and increasing efficiency. It provides solutions for legal and compliance professionals in law firms, corporate legal departments, universities, and government organizations. The Corporate Performance & ESG segment offers enterprise software to drive financial and sustainability performance and manage risks, meet reporting requirements, improve safety and productivity, and reduce environmental impact. It serves corporate finance, audit, planning, risk, environmental, health and safety, operational risk management, and sustainability professionals in corporations, banks, and governments. Wolters Kluwer N.V. was founded in 1836 and is based in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

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.