Contrasting Maximus (NYSE:MMS) and HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI)

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) and Maximus (NYSE:MMS) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for HireQuest and Maximus, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HireQuest	0	1	2	0	2.67
Maximus	0	2	0	0	2.00

HireQuest currently has a consensus target price of $19.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.08%. Given HireQuest’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe HireQuest is more favorable than Maximus.

Volatility and Risk

HireQuest has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Maximus has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares HireQuest and Maximus”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HireQuest	$30.64 million	7.49	$6.33 million	$0.57	28.96
Maximus	$5.43 billion	0.61	$319.03 million	$6.77	9.37

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

Dividends

HireQuest pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Maximus pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. HireQuest pays out 42.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Maximus pays out 19.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Maximus has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Maximus is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares HireQuest and Maximus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HireQuest	27.06%	16.35%	12.11%
Maximus	7.07%	24.91%	10.08%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

12.0% of HireQuest shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.2% of Maximus shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.9% of HireQuest shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Maximus shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

HireQuest beats Maximus on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc. provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries. The company provides its services under the HireQuest Direct, HireQuest, SNelling, DriverQuest, HireQuest Health, Northbound Executive Search, and MRI trade names. It serves construction, recycling, warehousing, logistics, auctioneering, manufacturing, hospitality, landscaping, and retail industries, as well as dental practices. HireQuest, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

About Maximus

Maximus, Inc. operates as a provider of government services in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Federal Services, U.S. Services, and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Services segment offers program eligibility support and enrollment; centralized multilingual customer contact centers, multichannel, and digital self-service options for enrollment; application assistance and independent health plan choice counseling; beneficiary outreach, education, eligibility, enrollment, and redeterminations; and person-centered independent disability, long-term sick, and other health assessments. This segment also provides employment services, such as eligibility support, case management, job-readiness preparation, job search and employer outreach, job retention and career advancement, and educational and training services; technology solutions; system implementation project management services; and specialized consulting services. The U.S. Federal Services segment offers Business process services, eligibility and enrollment, outreach, and other services for federal health and human services programs; clinical services; and technology solutions, including application development and modernization services, enterprise business solutions, advanced analytics and emerging technologies, cybersecurity services, and infrastructure and engineering solutions. The Outside the U.S. segment offers BPS solutions for international governments, including health and disability assessments, program administration for employment services, wellbeing solutions, and other job seeker-related services. Maximus, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.