Contrasting Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) & Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR)

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) and Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Willdan Group and Broadridge Financial Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Willdan Group	8.80%	24.51%	13.92%
Broadridge Financial Solutions	15.04%	40.25%	12.97%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.3% of Willdan Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Broadridge Financial Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 5.6% of Willdan Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Broadridge Financial Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Willdan Group and Broadridge Financial Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Willdan Group	0	1	2	1	3.00
Broadridge Financial Solutions	0	4	4	0	2.50

Willdan Group currently has a consensus target price of $118.33, indicating a potential upside of 58.54%. Broadridge Financial Solutions has a consensus target price of $216.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.82%. Given Willdan Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Willdan Group is more favorable than Broadridge Financial Solutions.

Risk and Volatility

Willdan Group has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Broadridge Financial Solutions has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Willdan Group and Broadridge Financial Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Willdan Group	$681.55 million	1.67	$52.56 million	$4.26	17.52
Broadridge Financial Solutions	$7.48 billion	2.77	$1.12 billion	$9.62	19.06

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

Summary

Broadridge Financial Solutions beats Willdan Group on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Broadridge Financial Solutions

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions. It also offers ProxyEdge, an electronic proxy delivery and voting solution; data-driven solutions and an end-to-end platform for content management, composition, and omni-channel distribution of regulatory, marketing, and transactional information, as well as mutual fund trade processing services; solutions for public corporations and mutual funds; data and analytics solutions; SEC filing and capital markets transaction services; registrar, stock transfer, and record-keeping services; and omni-channel customer communications solutions, as well as operates Broadridge Communications Cloud platform that creates, delivers, and manages communications and customer engagement activities. Its Global Technology and Operations segment provides solutions that automate the front-to-back transaction lifecycle of equity, mutual fund, fixed income, foreign exchange and exchange-traded derivatives, order capture and execution, trade confirmation, margin, cash management, clearing and settlement, reference data management, reconciliations, securities financing and collateral management, asset servicing, compliance and regulatory reporting, portfolio accounting, and custody-related services. This segment also offers business process outsourcing services; technology solutions, such portfolio management, compliance, fee billing, and operational support solutions; and capital market and wealth and investment management solutions. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Lake Success, New York.