Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG – Get Free Report) and Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares Acacia Research and Walker & Dunlop’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Acacia Research | -5.39% | 0.44% | 0.33% |
| Walker & Dunlop | 2.94% | 7.25% | 2.31% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
86.7% of Acacia Research shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.0% of Walker & Dunlop shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Acacia Research shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Walker & Dunlop shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Acacia Research | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Walker & Dunlop | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2.67 |
Acacia Research presently has a consensus target price of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 34.23%. Walker & Dunlop has a consensus target price of $64.00, indicating a potential upside of 53.70%. Given Walker & Dunlop’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Walker & Dunlop is more favorable than Acacia Research.
Risk and Volatility
Acacia Research has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Walker & Dunlop has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Acacia Research and Walker & Dunlop”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Acacia Research | $285.23 million | 1.53 | $21.68 million | ($0.15) | -29.80 |
| Walker & Dunlop | $1.23 billion | 1.16 | $57.08 million | $1.12 | 37.18 |
Walker & Dunlop has higher revenue and earnings than Acacia Research. Acacia Research is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Walker & Dunlop, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Walker & Dunlop beats Acacia Research on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About Walker & Dunlop
Walker & Dunlop, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial real estate and finance services. It operates through the following segments: Capital Markets, Servicing and Asset Management, and Corporate. The Capital Markets segment offers a comprehensive range of commercial real estate finance products to customers. The Servicing and Asset Management segment includes servicing and asset-managing and managing third-party capital investments. The Corporate segment consists primarily of the company’s treasury operations and other corporate-level activities. The company was founded by Oliver Walker and Laird Dunlop in 1937 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.
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