Contrasting Compass (NYSE:COMP) and FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV)

Compass (NYSE:COMP) and FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.0% of Compass shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.3% of FirstService shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Compass shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Compass has a beta of 2.32, indicating that its stock price is 132% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FirstService has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Compass and FirstService’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass	0.63%	3.62%	1.37%
FirstService	2.88%	18.07%	5.59%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Compass and FirstService”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass	$6.96 billion	1.10	-$58.50 million	$0.06	167.98
FirstService	$5.50 billion	1.03	$145.05 million	$3.53	36.58

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Compass and FirstService, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass	0	6	8	1	2.67
FirstService	0	4	8	0	2.67

Compass currently has a consensus target price of $14.15, suggesting a potential upside of 40.43%. FirstService has a consensus target price of $184.20, suggesting a potential upside of 42.67%. Given FirstService’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe FirstService is more favorable than Compass.

Summary

FirstService beats Compass on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Compass

Compass, Inc. provides real estate brokerage services in the United States. It operates a cloud-based platform that provides an integrated suite of software for customer relationship management, marketing, client service, operations, and other functionality in the real estate industry. The company offers mobile apps that allow agents to manage their business anytime and anywhere, as well as designs consumer-grade user interfaces, automated and simplified workflows for agent-client interactions, and insight-rich dashboards and reports. It also provides full-service title and escrow/settlement services to real estate agents' clients, real estate companies, and financial institutions relating to the closing of home purchases as well as the refinancing of home loans; and Compass Concierge, a program in which home sellers access to capital to front the cost of home improvement services. The company was formerly known as Urban Compass, Inc. and changed its name to Compass, Inc. in January 2021.Compass, Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About FirstService

FirstService Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides residential property management and other essential property services to residential and commercial customers in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: FirstService Residential and FirstService Brands. The FirstService Residential segment offers services for private residential communities, such as condominiums, co-operatives, homeowner associations, master-planned communities, active adult and lifestyle communities, and various other residential developments. This segment provides a range of ancillary services, including on-site staffing for building engineering and maintenance, full-service amenity management, and security and concierge/front desk; and financial services comprising cash management, other banking transaction-related, and specialized property insurance brokerage. In addition, this segment offers energy management solutions and advisory services, and resale processing services. Its FirstService Brands segment operates and provides essential property services to residential and commercial customers through franchise networks; and company-owned operations, including California Closets, Paul Davis Restoration, and CertaPro Painters operations. It provides residential and commercial restoration, painting, and floor coverings design and installation services; custom-designed and installed closet, and home storage solutions; home inspection services; and fire protection and related services. This segment offers its services primarily under the Paul Davis Restoration, Roofing Corp of America, First Onsite property Restoration, Century Fire Protection, CertaPro Painters, California Closets, Pillar to Post Home Inspectors, and Floor Coverings International brand names. FirstService Corporation was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.