Contrasting TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) and Where Food Comes From (NASDAQ:WFCF)

Where Food Comes From (NASDAQ:WFCF) and TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Where Food Comes From and TransUnion, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Where Food Comes From	0	1	0	0	2.00
TransUnion	0	6	10	0	2.62

TransUnion has a consensus price target of $94.56, suggesting a potential upside of 43.09%. Given TransUnion’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TransUnion is more favorable than Where Food Comes From.

Profitability

This table compares Where Food Comes From and TransUnion’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Where Food Comes From	5.78%	15.39%	10.24%
TransUnion	15.08%	16.29%	6.67%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Where Food Comes From and TransUnion”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Where Food Comes From	$24.89 million	2.52	$1.54 million	$0.28	45.00
TransUnion	$4.58 billion	2.77	$455.40 million	$3.79	17.44

TransUnion has higher revenue and earnings than Where Food Comes From. TransUnion is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Where Food Comes From, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Where Food Comes From has a beta of 0.12, indicating that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TransUnion has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its stock price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

18.8% of Where Food Comes From shares are owned by institutional investors. 53.5% of Where Food Comes From shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of TransUnion shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

TransUnion beats Where Food Comes From on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Where Food Comes From

Where Food Comes From, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a third-party food verification company in North America. The company operates through Verification and Certification, and Professional Services segments. It conducts on-site and desk audits to verify that claims being made about livestock, food, other specialty crops, and agricultural and aquaculture products are accurate, as well as offers Where Food Comes From Source Verified retail and restaurant labeling program, which connects consumers directly to the source of the food they purchase through product labeling, and web-based information sharing and education. It also offers professional services and technology solutions; verification solutions; and consulting services, as well as sells hardware. The company serves beef and pork packers, organic producers and processors, and specialty retail chains. The company was formerly known as Integrated Management Information, Inc. and changed its name to Where Food Comes From, Inc. in December 2012. Where Food Comes From, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Castle Rock, Colorado.

About TransUnion

TransUnion operates as a global consumer credit reporting agency that provides risk and information solutions. The company operates through U.S. Markets, International, and Consumer Interactive segments. The U.S. Markets segment provides consumer reports, actionable insights, and analytic services to businesses, which uses its services to acquire new customers; assess consumer ability to pay for services; identify cross-selling opportunities; measure and manage debt portfolio risk; collect debt; verify consumer identities; and mitigate fraud risk. This segment serves various industry vertical markets, including financial services, technology, commerce and communications, insurance, media, services and collections, tenant and employment, and public sectors. The International segment offers credit reports, analytics, technology solutions, and other value-added risk management services; consumer services, which help consumers to manage their personal finances; consumer credit reporting, insurance and auto information solutions, and commercial credit information services. It serves customers in financial services, retail credit, insurance, automotive, collections, public sector, and communications industries through direct and indirect channels. The company was formerly known as TransUnion Holding Company, Inc. and changed its name to TransUnion in March 2015. TransUnion was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.