Financial Survey: Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) and UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS)

Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) and UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Bowman Consulting Group and UL Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bowman Consulting Group	2.02%	3.98%	1.84%
UL Solutions	11.24%	30.99%	13.15%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Bowman Consulting Group and UL Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bowman Consulting Group	1	2	3	0	2.33
UL Solutions	0	5	5	1	2.64

Bowman Consulting Group presently has a consensus target price of $47.50, suggesting a potential upside of 50.65%. UL Solutions has a consensus target price of $101.54, suggesting a potential upside of 2.28%. Given Bowman Consulting Group’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Bowman Consulting Group is more favorable than UL Solutions.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

63.2% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.5% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of UL Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bowman Consulting Group and UL Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bowman Consulting Group	$490.02 million	1.13	$12.85 million	$0.60	52.55
UL Solutions	$3.05 billion	6.55	$325.00 million	$1.71	58.05

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

Volatility and Risk

Bowman Consulting Group has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UL Solutions has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

UL Solutions beats Bowman Consulting Group on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bowman Consulting Group

Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. provides a range of real estate, energy, infrastructure, and environmental management solutions in the United States. It offers civil and site engineering services, such as conceptual land planning, environmental consulting and permitting, planning/zoning and entitlements, roadway and highway designs, erosion and sediment designs, stormwater management designs, construction administration, traffic studies, floodplain studies, and utility relocation designs; and commissioning and energy efficiency services comprise construction observation, direct systems functional performance testing, system development readiness checklist, post occupancy review, review of construction documents, deferred/seasonal functional testing, final commissioning report, and commissioning review of submittals. The company also provides construction management services, including constructability review, value engineering, budgeting and cost estimating, interagency and utility coordination, onsite observation and report evaluation, public communication and outreach, and resident engineer services, as well as bid solicitation, documentation, and preparation services; and environmental consulting services consisting of wetlands and waters of the U.S. delineations, natural resources inventories, wildlife and vegetation surveys, threatened and endangered species surveys, endangered species conservation and management, wetland creation and enhancement design, NEPA documentation, section 404/401 permitting and compliance, NPDES permitting, and phase I environmental site assessment. In addition, it offers landscape architecture, land procurement and right-of-way acquisition, structural engineering, surveying and geospatial engineering, and transportation and water resources engineering services, as well as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

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.