Analyzing Powell Max (NASDAQ:PMAX) and Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT)

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) and Powell Max (NASDAQ:PMAX) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Performant Financial and Powell Max’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Performant Financial	-6.74%	-10.19%	-7.83%
Powell Max	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Performant Financial and Powell Max”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Performant Financial	$120.78 million	0.00	-$7.52 million	($0.10)	N/A
Powell Max	$46.62 million	0.68	N/A	N/A	N/A

Powell Max has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Performant Financial.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Performant Financial and Powell Max, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Performant Financial	0	0	1	1	3.50
Powell Max	0	0	0	0	0.00

Performant Financial presently has a consensus price target of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.00%. Given Performant Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Performant Financial is more favorable than Powell Max.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.2% of Performant Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.2% of Performant Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Performant Financial beats Powell Max on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Performant Financial

Performant Financial Corporation provides technology-enabled audit, recovery, and analytics services in the United States. The company identifies improper payments resulting from incorrect coding, procedures that were not medically necessary, incomplete documentation or claims submitted based on outdated fee schedules, and coverage discrepancies; and provides first party call center and other outsourced services. The company also offers Performant Insight that provides various services, such as post- and pre-payment audit of healthcare claims, detection of fraud, waste and abuse of healthcare claims, coordination of benefits, and pharmacy fraud detection services. It offers services to government and commercial healthcare markets. The company was formerly known as DCS Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Performant Financial Corporation in 2005. Performant Financial Corporation was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Plantation, Florida.

About Powell Max

Powell Max Limited is a financial communications services provider. Powell Max Limited is based in JERSEY CITY, N.J.