Critical Comparison: Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) vs. World Access (OTCMKTS:WAXS)

World Access (OTCMKTS:WAXS) and Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares World Access and Prudential Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
World Access	N/A	N/A	N/A
Prudential Financial	5.83%	16.33%	0.68%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.8% of Prudential Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 16.4% of World Access shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Prudential Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for World Access and Prudential Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
World Access	0	0	0	0	0.00
Prudential Financial	5	11	0	0	1.69

Prudential Financial has a consensus price target of $104.00, indicating a potential downside of 9.71%. Given World Access’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe World Access is more favorable than Prudential Financial.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares World Access and Prudential Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
World Access	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Prudential Financial	$57.68 billion	0.69	$3.58 billion	$9.72	11.85

Prudential Financial has higher revenue and earnings than World Access.

Summary

Prudential Financial beats World Access on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About World Access

World Access, Inc. operates as a global services company providing solutions in customer care to organizations in the travel, financial, health care, and call center industries. It consists of three full service companies and three specialized services companies. World Access Service Corporation serves companies located in the US and companies that have travelers or employees visiting North America. World Access Canada serves companies located in Canada; and World Access Asia serves companies located in eastern Asia, including Japan. World Access Europe provides members of World Access with logistical and medical support throughout the region. Other companies include World Access Provider Network Services; and World Access Transport Services that manages and coordinates all medical evacuation and repatriation activities for World Access. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia. In April 2001, the company filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court on behalf of itself and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries.

About Prudential Financial

Prudential Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through PGIM, Retirement Strategies, Group Insurance, Individual Life, and International Businesses segments. The PGIM segment offers investment management services and solutions related to public fixed income, public equity, real estate debt and equity, private credit and other alternatives, and multi-asset class strategies to institutional and retail clients, as well as its general account. The Retirement Strategies segment provides a range of retirement investment, and income products and services to retirement plan sponsors in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors; develops and distributes individual variable and fixed annuity products. The Group Insurance segment offers various group life, and long-term and short-term group disability, as well as group corporate-, bank-, and trust-owned life insurance in the United States primarily for institutional clients for use in connection with employee and membership benefits plans; sells accidental death and dismemberment, and other supplemental health solutions; and plan administration services in connection with its insurance coverages. The Individual Life segment develops and distributes variable life, universal life, and term life insurance products. The International Businesses segment develops and distributes life insurance, retirement products, investment products, and certain accident and health products; and advisory services. The company provides its products and services to individual and institutional customers through its proprietary and third-party distribution networks. Prudential Financial, Inc. was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.