TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) and Thomson Reuters Corp (NYSE:TRI) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitabiliy, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for TransUnion and Thomson Reuters Corp, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| TransUnion | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2.86 |
| Thomson Reuters Corp | 1 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 2.25 |
TransUnion presently has a consensus price target of $46.14, indicating a potential upside of 0.42%. Thomson Reuters Corp has a consensus price target of $48.60, indicating a potential upside of 1.33%. Given Thomson Reuters Corp’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Thomson Reuters Corp is more favorable than TransUnion.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
26.5% of Thomson Reuters Corp shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of TransUnion shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Risk & Volatility
TransUnion has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Thomson Reuters Corp has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares TransUnion and Thomson Reuters Corp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| TransUnion | 12.08% | 20.32% | 6.22% |
| Thomson Reuters Corp | 28.14% | 13.37% | 6.07% |
Dividends
Thomson Reuters Corp pays an annual dividend of $1.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. TransUnion does not pay a dividend. Thomson Reuters Corp pays out 32.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Thomson Reuters Corp has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares TransUnion and Thomson Reuters Corp’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| TransUnion | $1.80 billion | 4.64 | $636.70 million | $1.16 | 39.61 |
| Thomson Reuters Corp | $11.19 billion | 3.09 | $2.50 billion | $4.25 | 11.28 |
Thomson Reuters Corp has higher revenue and earnings than TransUnion. Thomson Reuters Corp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TransUnion, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Thomson Reuters Corp beats TransUnion on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
TransUnion Company Profile
TransUnion is a risk and information solutions provider to businesses and consumers. The Company provides consumer reports, risk scores, analytical services and decision capabilities to businesses. The Company operates through three segments: U.S. Information Services (USIS), International and Consumer Interactive. The USIS segment provides consumer reports, risk scores, analytical services and decisioning capabilities to businesses. The International segment provides services similar to its USIS segment to businesses in select regions outside the United States. The Consumer Interactive segment offers solutions that help consumers manage their personal finances and take precautions against identity theft. Businesses uses its solutions for their process workflows to assess consumer ability to pay for services, measure and manage debt portfolio risk, collect debt, verify consumer identities and investigate potential fraud.
Thomson Reuters Corp Company Profile
Thomson Reuters Corporation (Thomson Reuters) is a provider of news and information for professional markets. The Company is organized in three business units: Financial & Risk, Legal, and Tax & Accounting. The Financial & Risk segment is a provider of critical news, information and analytics, enabling transactions and connecting communities of trading, investment, financial and corporate professionals. The Legal segment is a provider of critical online and print information, decision tools, software and services that support legal, investigation, business and government professionals around the world. The Tax & Accounting segment is a provider of integrated tax compliance and accounting information, software and services for professionals in accounting firms, corporations, law firms and government. The Company also operates Reuters, Global Growth Organization (GGO), and Enterprise Technology & Operations (ET&O). Thomson Reuters operates in over 100 countries.
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