Maximus (NYSE:MMS) and comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) Critical Comparison

comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) and Maximus (NYSE:MMS) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.2% of comScore shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.2% of Maximus shares are held by institutional investors. 8.8% of comScore shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Maximus shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares comScore and Maximus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
comScore	-7.96%	-47.80%	-5.82%
Maximus	5.59%	20.91%	9.12%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares comScore and Maximus”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
comScore	$371.34 million	0.09	-$79.36 million	($9.36)	-0.69
Maximus	$5.25 billion	1.02	$161.79 million	$3.81	23.12

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for comScore and Maximus, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
comScore	0	1	1	0	2.50
Maximus	0	1	0	0	2.00

comScore presently has a consensus price target of $10.75, suggesting a potential upside of 65.38%. Given comScore’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe comScore is more favorable than Maximus.

Volatility and Risk

comScore has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Maximus has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Maximus beats comScore on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. operates as an information and analytics company that measures audiences, consumer behavior, and advertising across media platforms in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and internationally. The company provides digital ad solutions, including Media Metrix Multi-Platform and Mobile Metrix, which measure websites and applications on computers, smartphones, and tablets; Video Metrix that delivers measurement of digital video consumption; Plan Metrix, which offers understanding of consumer lifestyle; Total Home Panel Suite, which capture OTT, connected TV, and IOT device usage and content consumption; CCR, which enhances validated campaign essentials verification of mobile and desktop video campaigns; XMedia Enhanced, which provides a deduplicated view of national programming content; Comscore marketing solutions; Lift Models, which measures the impact of advertising on a brand; Survey Analytics, which measure various consumer insights including brand health metrics; and Activation Solutions, including audience activation and content activation. The company's cross platform solutions products and services comprises Comscore TVNational that helps customers understand the performance of network advertising campaigns; Comscore TVLocal allows customers to understand consumer viewing patterns and characteristics; OnDemand Essentials that provides transactional tracking and reporting; Movie Solutions; and Hollywood Software Suite. In addition, it offers custom solutions for planning, optimization, and evaluation of advertising campaigns and brand protection. Further, the company provides products that measure movie viewership and box office results by capturing movie ticket sales in real time or near real time. It serves digital publishers, television networks, movie studios, content owners, brand advertisers, agencies, and technology providers. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

About Maximus

Maximus, Inc. operates as a provider of government services in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Federal Services, U.S. Services, and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Services segment offers program eligibility support and enrollment; centralized multilingual customer contact centers, multichannel, and digital self-service options for enrollment; application assistance and independent health plan choice counseling; beneficiary outreach, education, eligibility, enrollment, and redeterminations; and person-centered independent disability, long-term sick, and other health assessments. This segment also provides employment services, such as eligibility support, case management, job-readiness preparation, job search and employer outreach, job retention and career advancement, and educational and training services; technology solutions; system implementation project management services; and specialized consulting services. The U.S. Federal Services segment offers Business process services, eligibility and enrollment, outreach, and other services for federal health and human services programs; clinical services; and technology solutions, including application development and modernization services, enterprise business solutions, advanced analytics and emerging technologies, cybersecurity services, and infrastructure and engineering solutions. The Outside the U.S. segment offers BPS solutions for international governments, including health and disability assessments, program administration for employment services, wellbeing solutions, and other job seeker-related services. Maximus, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.