Financial Contrast: Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) and Frontdoor (NASDAQ:FTDR)

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) and Frontdoor (NASDAQ:FTDR) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Carriage Services and Frontdoor”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Carriage Services	$417.44 million	1.29	$51.51 million	$2.79	12.13
Frontdoor	$2.09 billion	2.72	$255.00 million	$3.77	21.94

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Carriage Services and Frontdoor, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Carriage Services	1	1	3	0	2.40
Frontdoor	0	3	5	0	2.62

Carriage Services presently has a consensus price target of $51.00, suggesting a potential upside of 50.66%. Frontdoor has a consensus price target of $92.60, suggesting a potential upside of 11.96%. Given Carriage Services’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Carriage Services is more favorable than Frontdoor.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.5% of Carriage Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Carriage Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Frontdoor 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.

Risk & Volatility

Carriage Services has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Frontdoor has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Carriage Services and Frontdoor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Carriage Services	10.69%	19.23%	3.71%
Frontdoor	12.72%	120.90%	14.86%

Summary

Frontdoor beats Carriage Services on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Carriage Services

Carriage Services, Inc. provides funeral and cemetery services, and merchandise in the United States. It operates in two segments, Funeral Home Operations and Cemetery Operations. The Funeral Home Operations segment provides consultation services; funeral home facilities for visitation and memorial services; transportation services; removal and preparation of remains; sale of caskets and urns; cremation services; and related funeral merchandise. The Cemetery Operations segment sells interment rights for grave sites, lawn crypts, mausoleum spaces, and niches; related cemetery merchandise, including memorial markers, outer burial containers, and monuments; and interments, inurnments, and installation of cemetery merchandise services. Carriage Services, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Frontdoor

Frontdoor, Inc. provides home warranties in the United States in the United States. Its customizable home warranties help customers protect and maintain their homes from costly and unplanned breakdowns of essential home systems and appliances. The company’s home warranty customers subscribe to an annual service plan agreement that covers the repair or replacement of principal components of approximately 20 home systems and appliances, including electrical, plumbing, water heaters, refrigerators, dishwashers, and ranges/ovens/cooktops, as well as electronics, pools, and spas and pumps; and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. It also offers on-demand home services and a one-stop app experience for home repair and maintenance; and Streem technology, an app that empowers homeowners by connecting them in real time through video chat with qualified experts to diagnose and solve their problems. The company serves homeowners under the Frontdoor, American Home Shield, HSA, OneGuard, Landmark Home Warranty, Frontdoor logo, and Streem brands. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.