Contrasting Hudson Global (HSON) & ManpowerGroup (NYSE:MAN)

ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) and Hudson Global (NASDAQ:HSON) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitabiliy, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Dividends

ManpowerGroup pays an annual dividend of $1.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Hudson Global does not pay a dividend. ManpowerGroup pays out 28.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ManpowerGroup has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for ManpowerGroup and Hudson Global, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ManpowerGroup	0	3	5	0	2.63
Hudson Global	0	0	0	0	N/A

ManpowerGroup currently has a consensus target price of $94.00, suggesting a potential downside of 19.88%. Given ManpowerGroup’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe ManpowerGroup is more favorable than Hudson Global.

Profitability

This table compares ManpowerGroup and Hudson Global’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ManpowerGroup	2.25%	17.72%	5.79%
Hudson Global	-1.70%	-14.64%	-6.07%

Volatility and Risk

ManpowerGroup has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hudson Global has a beta of -0.35, indicating that its share price is 135% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ManpowerGroup and Hudson Global’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ManpowerGroup	$19.82 billion	0.40	$845.00 million	$6.43	18.25
Hudson Global	$424.92 million	0.10	-$374,000.00	($0.21)	-6.48

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.3% of ManpowerGroup shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.9% of Hudson Global shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of ManpowerGroup shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.5% of Hudson Global shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

ManpowerGroup beats Hudson Global on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

ManpowerGroup Company Profile

ManpowerGroup Inc. is a provider of workforce solutions and services. The Company’s segments include Americas, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Asia Pacific Middle East (APME), Right Management and Corporate. The Company’s Americas segment includes operations in the United States and Other Americas. Its Southern Europe segment includes operations in France, Italy and Other Southern Europe. Its Northern Europe segment includes operations in the United Kingdom, the Nordics, Germany and the Netherlands. The Company’s APME operations provide a range of workforce solutions and services offered through Manpower, Experis and ManpowerGroup Solutions, including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment, assessment and selection, training and outsourcing. The Company’s Right Management segment provides talent and career management workforce solutions. The Company provides services under its Experis brand, particularly in the areas of information technology (IT), engineering and finance.

Hudson Global Company Profile

Hudson Global, Inc. (Hudson) is a provider of professional-level recruitment and related talent solutions across the world. The Company’s segments include Hudson Americas, Hudson Asia Pacific and Hudson Europe. Its service offerings include Permanent Recruitment, Temporary Contracting, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Talent Management solutions. The Permanent Recruitment services leverage its consultants, supported by its specialists in the delivery of its methods to identify, select and engage the talent. In Temporary Contracting, Hudson provides a range of project management, interim management and professional contract staffing services. Hudson RPO services include complete recruitment outsourcing, project-based outsourcing, contingent workforce solutions and recruitment consulting. Its Talent Management Solutions’ capability encompasses services, such as talent assessment, interview training, executive coaching, employee development and outplacement.