Reviewing KBR (NYSE:KBR) and TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) and KBR (NYSE:KBR) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Dividends

TransUnion pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. KBR pays an annual dividend of $0.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. TransUnion pays out 13.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. KBR pays out 19.9% 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. TransUnion has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and KBR has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. KBR is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for TransUnion and KBR, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TransUnion	0	6	10	0	2.62
KBR	0	5	3	0	2.38

TransUnion presently has a consensus price target of $92.75, indicating a potential upside of 47.44%. KBR has a consensus price target of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 32.71%. Given TransUnion’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe TransUnion is more favorable than KBR.

Volatility & Risk

TransUnion has a beta of 1.58, indicating that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KBR has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares TransUnion and KBR”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TransUnion	$4.58 billion	2.63	$455.40 million	$3.79	16.60
KBR	$7.72 billion	0.55	$415.00 million	$3.32	10.21

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

Profitability

This table compares TransUnion and KBR’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TransUnion	15.08%	16.29%	6.67%
KBR	5.49%	32.55%	7.62%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.0% of KBR shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of TransUnion shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of KBR shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

TransUnion beats KBR on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TransUnion

TransUnion operates as a global consumer credit reporting agency that provides risk and information solutions. The company operates through U.S. Markets, International, and Consumer Interactive segments. The U.S. Markets segment provides consumer reports, actionable insights, and analytic services to businesses, which uses its services to acquire new customers; assess consumer ability to pay for services; identify cross-selling opportunities; measure and manage debt portfolio risk; collect debt; verify consumer identities; and mitigate fraud risk. This segment serves various industry vertical markets, including financial services, technology, commerce and communications, insurance, media, services and collections, tenant and employment, and public sectors. The International segment offers credit reports, analytics, technology solutions, and other value-added risk management services; consumer services, which help consumers to manage their personal finances; consumer credit reporting, insurance and auto information solutions, and commercial credit information services. It serves customers in financial services, retail credit, insurance, automotive, collections, public sector, and communications industries through direct and indirect channels. The company was formerly known as TransUnion Holding Company, Inc. and changed its name to TransUnion in March 2015. TransUnion was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About KBR

KBR, Inc. provides scientific, technology, and engineering solutions to governments and commercial customers worldwide. It operates through Government Solutions and Sustainable Technology Solutions segments. The Government Solutions segment offers life-cycle support solutions to defense, intelligence, space, aviation, and other programs and missions for military and other government agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Its services cover research and development, advanced prototyping, acquisition support, systems engineering, cyber analytics, space domain awareness, test and evaluation, systems integration and program management, global supply chain management, and operations readiness and support, as well as command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services. This segment also provides various professional advisory services to the defense, renewable energy, and critical infrastructure sectors. The Sustainable Technology Solutions segment operates portfolio of various proprietary process technologies for ammonia/syngas, chemical/petrochemicals, clean refining, and circular process/circular economy solutions. This segment also provides synergistic services, including advisory and consulting focused on broad-based energy transition and net-zero carbon emission solutions; high-end engineering, design and program management centered around decarbonization, energy efficiency, environmental impact and asset optimization; and digitally-enabled operating and monitoring solutions. KBR, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.