CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) vs. Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) Financial Survey

CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) and Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

CoStar Group has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Leidos has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CoStar Group and Leidos”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CoStar Group	$3.41 billion	3.60	$7.00 million	$0.06	502.00
Leidos	$17.17 billion	0.78	$1.45 billion	$10.92	9.81

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for CoStar Group and Leidos, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CoStar Group	2	5	13	0	2.55
Leidos	0	9	4	1	2.43

CoStar Group currently has a consensus target price of $55.33, indicating a potential upside of 83.71%. Leidos has a consensus target price of $177.92, indicating a potential upside of 66.03%. Given CoStar Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe CoStar Group is more favorable than Leidos.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.6% of CoStar Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of Leidos shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of CoStar Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Leidos shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares CoStar Group and Leidos’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CoStar Group	0.74%	2.90%	2.32%
Leidos	8.15%	31.92%	11.23%

Summary

CoStar Group beats Leidos on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CoStar Group

CoStar Group, Inc. provides information, analytics, and online marketplace services to the commercial real estate, hospitality, residential, and related professionals industries in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company offers CoStar Property that provides inventory of office, industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality, and student housing properties and land; CoStar Sales, a robust database of comparable commercial real estate sales transactions; CoStar Market Analytics to view and report on aggregated market and submarket trends; and CoStar Tenant, an online business-to-business prospecting and analytical tool that provides tenant information. It also provides Leasing, a tool to capture, manage, and maintain lease data; CoStar Lease Analysis; Public Record, a searchable database of commercially zoned parcels; CoStar Real Estate Manager, a real estate lease administration, portfolio management, and lease accounting compliance software solution; and CoStar Risk Analytics and CoStar Investment. In addition, it offers apartment marketing sites, such as ApartmentFinder.com, ForRent.com, ApartmentHomeLiving.com, WestsideRentals.com, AFTER55.com, CorporateHousing.com, ForRentUniversity.com, Apartamentos.com, and Off Campus Partners; LoopNet Premium Lister; LoopNet Diamond, Platinum, and Gold Ads; LandsofAmerica.com, LandAndFarm.com, and LandWatch.com for rural land for-sale; BizBuySell.com, BizQuest.com, and FindaFranchise.com for operating businesses and franchises for-sale; Ten-X, an online auction platform for commercial real estate; and HomeSnap, an online and mobile software platform, as well as Homes.com, a homes for sale listings site. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.

About Leidos

Leidos Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health segments. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, the space development agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, defense information systems agency, military services, and government agencies of U.S. allies abroad, as well as other federal and commercial customers in the national security industry. The solutions include technology, large-scale systems, command and control platforms, data analytics, logistics, and cybersecurity solutions, as well as intelligence analysis and operations support services to critical missions. The Civil segment provides systems integration services to air navigation service providers, including the federal aviation administration, the En route automation modernization, advanced technology oceanic procedure, time based flow management, terminal flight data management, geo-7, and future flight services, as well as enterprise-information display systems; and security detection services. It also offers information technology (IT) solutions in cloud computing, mobility, application modernization, DevOps, data center, network modernization, asset management, help desk operations, and digital workplace enablement; and environment, energy, and infrastructure services. The Health segment offers solutions to federal and commercial customers responsible for health and well-being of people, include health information management, managed health, digital modernization, and life sciences research and development services. Leidos Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.