Analyzing ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) and IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX)

ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) and IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.9% of ExlService shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of IBEX shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of ExlService shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of IBEX shares are owned by company 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

This is a summary of recent recommendations for ExlService and IBEX, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ExlService	0	1	6	0	2.86
IBEX	0	3	0	0	2.00

ExlService presently has a consensus target price of $44.50, indicating a potential upside of 22.09%. IBEX has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.21%. Given ExlService’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe ExlService is more favorable than IBEX.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ExlService and IBEX”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ExlService	$2.09 billion	2.65	$251.02 million	$1.59	22.92
IBEX	$644.08 million	0.83	$46.33 million	$3.13	12.94

ExlService has higher revenue and earnings than IBEX. IBEX is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ExlService, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

ExlService has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IBEX has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ExlService and IBEX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ExlService	11.17%	30.61%	15.66%
IBEX	7.19%	28.96%	15.36%

Summary

ExlService beats IBEX on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ExlService

ExlService Holdings, Inc. operates as a data analytics, and digital operations and solutions company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Insurance, Healthcare, Analytics, and Emerging Business segments. It also provides digital operations and solutions and analytics-driven services, such as claims processing, premium and benefit administration, agency management, account reconciliation, policy research, underwriting support, new business acquisition, policy servicing, premium audit, surveys, billing and collection, commercial and residential survey, and customer service using digital technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced automation; digital customer acquisition services using a software-as-a-service delivery model through LifePRO and LISS platforms; subrogation services; and Subrosource software platform, an end-to-end subrogation platform. In addition, the company offers health care services related to care management, utilization management, disease management, payment integrity, revenue optimization, and customer engagement. Further, it provides financial planning and analysis, management reporting, forecasting and decision support, data management, regulatory reporting and risk, and compliance services; reservations, customer, and fulfilment services; freight billing, collections, claims management, freight audit, freight scheduling, supply chain management, and revenue assurance services; residential mortgage lending, title verification and validation, retail banking and credit cards, trust verification, commercial banking, and investment management; merchandising, pricing, and demand forecasting; and digital operations and solutions. The company offers predictive and prescriptive analytics in the areas of customer acquisition and lifecycle management. ExlService Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About IBEX

IBEX Limited provides end-to-end technology-enabled customer lifecycle experience solutions in the United States and internationally. The company products and services portfolio includes ibex Connect, that offers customer service, technical support, revenue generation, and other revenue generation outsourced back-office services through the CX model, which integrates voice, email, chat, SMS, social media, and other communication applications; ibex Digital, a customer acquisition solution that comprises digital marketing, e-commerce technology, and platform solutions; and ibex CX, a customer experience solution, which provides a suite of proprietary software tools to measure, monitor, and manage its clients' customer experience. It operates customer engagement and customer acquisition delivery centers. The company serves banking and financial services, delivery and logistics, health tech and wellness, high tech, retail and e-commerce, streaming and entertainment, travel and hospitality, and utility industries. The company was formerly known as IBEX Holdings Limited and changed its name to IBEX Limited in September 2019. IBEX Limited was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia. The company is a subsidiary of The Resource Group International Limited.