Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG – Get Free Report) and Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN – Get Free Report) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.
Profitability
This table compares Healthcare Services Group and Willdan Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Healthcare Services Group | 2.20% | 12.23% | 7.52% |
| Willdan Group | 5.60% | 18.60% | 9.65% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Healthcare Services Group and Willdan Group, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Healthcare Services Group | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.43 |
| Willdan Group | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.25 |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Healthcare Services Group and Willdan Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Healthcare Services Group | $1.81 billion | 0.74 | $39.47 million | $0.54 | 35.09 |
| Willdan Group | $651.93 million | 2.28 | $22.57 million | $2.78 | 36.31 |
Healthcare Services Group has higher revenue and earnings than Willdan Group. Healthcare Services Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Willdan Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
98.0% of Healthcare Services Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.3% of Willdan Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Healthcare Services Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.6% of Willdan Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk & Volatility
Healthcare Services Group has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Willdan Group has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Willdan Group beats Healthcare Services Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Healthcare Services Group
Healthcare Services Group, Inc. provides management, administrative, and operating services to the housekeeping, laundry, linen, facility maintenance, and dietary service departments of nursing homes, retirement complexes, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals in the United States. It operates through two segments, Housekeeping and Dietary. The Housekeeping segment engages in the cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing of resident rooms and common areas of the customers' facilities, as well as laundering and processing of the bed linens, uniforms, resident personal clothing, and other assorted linen items utilized at the customers' facilities. The Dietary segment provides food purchasing, meal preparation, and professional dietitian services, which include the development of menus that meet the dietary needs of residents; and on-site management and clinical consulting services to facilities. It serves long-term and post-acute care facilities, hospitals, and the healthcare industry through referrals and solicitation of target facilities. The company was incorporated in 1976 and is based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
About Willdan Group
Willdan Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides professional, technical, and consulting services primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy, and Engineering and Consulting. The Energy segment offers comprehensive audit and surveys, program design and implementation, master planning, demand reduction, grid optimization, benchmarking analyses, design engineering, construction management, performance contracting, installation, alternative financing, measurement and verification services, and software and data analytics, as well as energy consulting and engineering, turnkey facility and infrastructure projects, and customer support services. The Engineering and Consulting segment provides building and safety, city engineering and code enforcement, development plan review and inspection, disaster recovery, geotechnical and earthquake engineering, planning and surveying, contract staff support, program and construction management, structural engineering, transportation and traffic engineering, and water resources services. This segment also offers district administration, financial consulting, and federal compliance services. It serves public and governmental agencies, including cities, counties, redevelopment agencies, water districts, school districts, and universities; investor and municipal owned energy utilities; state and federal agencies; and commercial and industrial firms, as well as various other special districts and agencies. The company was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Anaheim, California.
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