Contrasting ASX (OTCMKTS:ASXFY) & Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB)

ASX (OTCMKTS:ASXFY) and Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Dividends

ASX pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Dun & Bradstreet pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. ASX pays out 83.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Dun & Bradstreet pays out -250.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares ASX and Dun & Bradstreet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ASX	N/A	N/A	N/A
Dun & Bradstreet	-1.42%	11.35%	4.25%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.7% of Dun & Bradstreet shares are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Dun & Bradstreet shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ASX and Dun & Bradstreet”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ASX	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.99	21.78
Dun & Bradstreet	$2.36 billion	2.03	-$47.00 million	($0.08)	-135.38

ASX has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Dun & Bradstreet. Dun & Bradstreet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ASX, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for ASX and Dun & Bradstreet, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ASX	0	0	0	0	N/A
Dun & Bradstreet	0	4	3	1	2.63

Dun & Bradstreet has a consensus price target of $13.85, suggesting a potential upside of 27.89%. Given Dun & Bradstreet’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dun & Bradstreet is more favorable than ASX.

Summary

Dun & Bradstreet beats ASX on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ASX

ASX Limited operates as a multi-asset class and integrated exchange company in Australia and internationally. The company provides education programs, research and insights, investor access and peer group networking; distribution facility for quoted exchange traded funds (ETFs) and debt securities. It is also involved in the trading of futures and options on interest rate, equity index, agricultural and energy products, and options over individual securities; cash market trading of equities, warrants, exchange-traded funds, and debt securities; and clearing of exchange-traded derivatives and over-the-counter interest rate and equity derivatives. In addition, it offers information services, including pricing and trading data; technical services, such as s market access, connectivity, hosting and co-location services; central counterparty clearing and settlement services for equities; settlement, depository, and registry services for debt securities; and payment platform for property transactions, high value payments and electricity providers. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Sydney, Australia.

About Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business-to-business data and analytics in North America and internationally. It offers finance and risk solutions, including D&B Finance Analytics, an online application that offers clients real time access to its information, comprehensive monitoring, and portfolio analysis; D&B Direct, an application programming interface (API) that delivers risk and financial data directly into enterprise applications for real-time credit decision-making; D&B Small Business, a suite of tools that allows SMBs to monitor and build their business credit file; D&B Enterprise Risk Assessment Manager, a solution for managing and automating credit decisioning and reporting; and D&B Risk Analytics, a subscription-based online application that offers clients real-time access to complete and up-to-date global information to mitigate supply chain risk, regulatory risk, and ESG assessment, as well as other related risks; Risk Guardian, a subscription-based online application that offers real-time access to Northern Europe information, monitoring, and portfolio analysis; and D&B Beneficial Ownership that offers risk intelligence on ultimate beneficial ownership. The company also provides sales and marketing solutions, including D&B Connect, a self-service data management platform; D&B Optimizer, an integrated data management solution; D&B Rev.Up ABX, an open and agnostic platform that aligns marketing and sales teams to deliver an optimal and coordinated buying; D&B Hoovers, a sales intelligence solution; D&B Audience Targeting, which helps clients to reach the right audiences with the right messages; D&B Visitor Intelligence that turns web visitors into leads; D&B Direct, an API-enabled data management solution; and InfoTorg, an online SaaS application that provides information services. Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1841 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.