Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU – Get Free Report) and Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG – Get Free Report) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
85.0% of Brookfield Business Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Acacia Research shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Acacia Research shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Brookfield Business Partners and Acacia Research, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Brookfield Business Partners | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Acacia Research | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.50 |
Profitability
This table compares Brookfield Business Partners and Acacia Research’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Brookfield Business Partners | 1.41% | 2.67% | 0.51% |
| Acacia Research | 7.60% | 4.11% | 3.05% |
Risk and Volatility
Brookfield Business Partners has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acacia Research has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Brookfield Business Partners and Acacia Research”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Brookfield Business Partners | $27.46 billion | 0.10 | -$26.00 million | ($0.26) | -121.00 |
| Acacia Research | $285.23 million | 1.66 | $21.68 million | $0.23 | 21.39 |
Acacia Research has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Brookfield Business Partners. Brookfield Business Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acacia Research, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Acacia Research beats Brookfield Business Partners on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Brookfield Business Partners
Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a private equity firm specializing in acquisition. The firm typically invests in business services, infrastructure services, construction, energy, and industrials sector. It prefers to take majority stake in companies. The firm seeks returns of at least 15% on its investments. Brookfield Business Partners L.P. was founded in 2016 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Brookfield Business Partners L.P. operates as a subsidiary of Brookfield Corporation.
About Acacia Research
Acacia is a publicly traded (Nasdaq: ACTG) company that is focused on acquiring and operating businesses across the industrial, energy and technology sectors where it believes it can leverage its expertise, significant capital base, and deep industry relationships to drive value. Acacia evaluates opportunities based on the attractiveness of the underlying cash flows, without regard to a specific investment horizon. Acacia operates its businesses based on three key principles of people, process, and performance and has built a management team with demonstrated expertise in research, transactions and execution, and operations and management.
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