Head to Head Contrast: UL Solutions (ULS) & Its Peers

UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) is one of 203 publicly-traded companies in the “Professional Services” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare UL Solutions to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares UL Solutions and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
UL Solutions	$3.05 billion	$325.00 million	30.32
UL Solutions Competitors	$3.29 billion	$228.36 million	34.89

UL Solutions’ competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than UL Solutions. UL Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for UL Solutions and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UL Solutions	0	5	7	0	2.58
UL Solutions Competitors	1577	6432	9162	430	2.48

UL Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $95.88, indicating a potential upside of 28.01%. As a group, “Professional Services” companies have a potential upside of 26.92%. Given UL Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe UL Solutions is more favorable than its competitors.

Dividends

UL Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. UL Solutions pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Professional Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.5% and pay out -164.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. UL Solutions lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.4% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of UL Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.1% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

UL Solutions has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UL Solutions’ competitors have a beta of 0.98, meaning that their average share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares UL Solutions and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UL Solutions	16.02%	28.81%	13.25%
UL Solutions Competitors	-0.59%	20.75%	4.33%

Summary

UL Solutions beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

UL Solutions Company Profile

UL Solutions Inc. provides safety science services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Consumer, and Software and Advisory. The Industrial segment provides testing, inspection, and certification services across various end markets, including energy, industrial automation, engineered materials, and built environment, as well as stakeholders, such as manufacturers, building owners, end users, and regulators. The Consumer segment offers safety certification testing, ongoing certification, global market access, testing for connectivity, performance and quality, and critical systems advisory and training services, as well as product market acceptance and risk mitigation services for customers in the consumer products end markets comprising consumer electronics, medical devices, information technologies, appliances, HVAC, lighting, and retail, as well as consumer applications, such as new mobility, smart products, and 5G. The Software and Advisory segment provide software and technical advisory services that enable customers to manage regulatory requirements, deliver supply chain transparency, and operationalize sustainability for regulated industries, including life sciences, supply chain regulations, transparency needs, and new ESG and sustainability requirements. It offers ULTRUS software brand to help customers improve speed to market, sustainability and safety. UL Solutions Inc. was formerly known as UL Inc. and changed its name to UL Solutions Inc. in June 2022. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois with additional offices in North America, Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East. UL Solutions Inc. operates as a subsidiary of ULSE Inc.