Head to Head Review: Experian (OTCMKTS:EXPGF) and Equifax (NYSE:EFX)

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) and Experian (OTCMKTS:EXPGF) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Equifax and Experian, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equifax	2	4	8	0	2.43
Experian	0	0	0	0	N/A

Equifax presently has a consensus target price of $216.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.07%. Given Equifax’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Equifax is more favorable than Experian.

Dividends

Equifax pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Experian pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Equifax pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Experian pays out 44.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Profitability

This table compares Equifax and Experian’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equifax	10.15%	19.15%	6.75%
Experian	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.4% of Equifax shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.0% of Experian shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Equifax shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Equifax and Experian’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equifax	$5.14 billion	5.02	$696.20 million	$4.22	49.59
Experian	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.84	43.95

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

Summary

Equifax beats Experian on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equifax

Equifax Inc. operates as a data, analytics, and technology company. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers services that enables customers to verify income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, and sanctions of people in the United States; and employer customers with services that assist them in complying with and automating payroll-related and human resource management processes throughout the entire cycle of the employment relationship. The USIS segment provides consumer and commercial information services, such as credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting services; mortgage services; financial marketing services; identity management services; and credit monitoring products. The International segment offers information service products, which include consumer and commercial services, such as credit and financial information, and credit scoring and modeling; and credit and other marketing products and services, as well as offers information, technology, and other services to support debt collections and recovery management. The company serves customers in financial services, mortgage, retail, telecommunications, utilities, automotive, brokerage, healthcare, and insurance industries, as well as government agencies. It operates in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and the Republic of Ireland. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Experian

Experian plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a technology company in North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Business-to-Business and Consumer Services. The company collects, sorts, aggregates, and transforms data from various sources to provide a range of data-driven services. It also owns, create, and develops analytics, predictive tools, sophisticated software, and platforms; credit risk, fraud prevention, identity management, customer service and engagement, account processing, and account management services; data analysis, and research and development services. In addition, the company provides credit education, free access to Experian credit reports and scores, and online educational tools. It serves its customers in financial service, direct-to-consumer, health, retail, automotive, software and professional services, telecoms and utility, insurance, media and technology, and other industries, as well as government and public sectors. The company was formerly known as Experian Group Limited and changed its name to Experian plc in July 2008. Experian plc was founded in 1826 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.