Reviewing Kforce (NASDAQ:KFRC) & KBR (NYSE:KBR)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kforce and KBR, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kforce	0	3	2	0	2.40
KBR	0	5	3	0	2.38

Kforce currently has a consensus target price of $60.67, suggesting a potential upside of 18.75%. KBR has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.66%. Given KBR’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe KBR is more favorable than Kforce.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kforce and KBR”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kforce	$1.34 billion	0.68	$50.41 million	$2.12	24.10
KBR	$7.72 billion	0.59	$415.00 million	$3.32	10.96

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

Dividends

Kforce pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. KBR pays an annual dividend of $0.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Kforce pays out 75.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. KBR pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. KBR has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Kforce and KBR’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kforce	3.59%	30.34%	13.76%
KBR	5.49%	32.55%	7.62%

Volatility & Risk

Kforce has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KBR has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.8% of Kforce shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of KBR shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of Kforce shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of KBR shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

KBR beats Kforce on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kforce

Kforce Inc. provides professional staffing services and solutions in the United States. It operates through two segments, Technology, and Finance and Accounting (FA). The Technology segment provides talent solutions to its clients primarily in the areas of information technology, such as systems/applications architecture and development, data management and analytics, business and artificial intelligence, machine learning, project and program management, and network architecture and security. This segment serves clients in various industries comprising financial and business services, communications, insurance, retail, and technology industries. The FA businesses segment offers talent solutions to its clients in areas, including financial planning and analysis, business intelligence analysis, general accounting, transactional accounting, business and cost analysis, and taxation and treasury. It also provides consultants in lower skilled areas comprising loan servicing and support, customer and call center support, data entry, and other administrative roles. This segment serves clients in various industries, including financial and business services, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

About KBR

KBR, Inc. provides scientific, technology, and engineering solutions to governments and commercial customers worldwide. It operates through Government Solutions and Sustainable Technology Solutions segments. The Government Solutions segment offers life-cycle support solutions to defense, intelligence, space, aviation, and other programs and missions for military and other government agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Its services cover research and development, advanced prototyping, acquisition support, systems engineering, cyber analytics, space domain awareness, test and evaluation, systems integration and program management, global supply chain management, and operations readiness and support, as well as command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services. This segment also provides various professional advisory services to the defense, renewable energy, and critical infrastructure sectors. The Sustainable Technology Solutions segment operates portfolio of various proprietary process technologies for ammonia/syngas, chemical/petrochemicals, clean refining, and circular process/circular economy solutions. This segment also provides synergistic services, including advisory and consulting focused on broad-based energy transition and net-zero carbon emission solutions; high-end engineering, design and program management centered around decarbonization, energy efficiency, environmental impact and asset optimization; and digitally-enabled operating and monitoring solutions. KBR, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.