Financial Analysis: TaskUs (NASDAQ:TASK) versus Mistras Group (NYSE:MG)

Mistras Group (NYSE:MG) and TaskUs (NASDAQ:TASK) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Mistras Group and TaskUs’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mistras Group	3.65%	14.66%	5.89%
TaskUs	8.75%	27.02%	11.58%

Volatility & Risk

Mistras Group has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TaskUs has a beta of 1.75, indicating that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Mistras Group and TaskUs, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mistras Group	0	2	1	0	2.33
TaskUs	1	5	1	1	2.25

Mistras Group presently has a consensus price target of $19.00, indicating a potential downside of 11.89%. TaskUs has a consensus price target of $9.60, indicating a potential upside of 18.52%. Given TaskUs’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe TaskUs is more favorable than Mistras Group.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mistras Group	$724.02 million	0.95	$16.84 million	$0.83	25.98
TaskUs	$1.18 billion	0.63	$102.28 million	$1.16	6.98

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.9% of Mistras Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.6% of TaskUs shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.1% of Mistras Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 31.9% of TaskUs shares are owned 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.

Summary

TaskUs beats Mistras Group on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mistras Group

Mistras Group, Inc. provides technology-enabled asset protection solutions in the United States, other Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers non-destructive testing services; inline inspection for pipelines; and plant condition management software. It also provides maintenance and light mechanical services, such as corrosion removal, mitigation and prevention, insulation installation and removal, electrical, heat tracing, industrial cleaning, pipefitting, and welding; engineering consulting services primarily for process equipment, technologies, and facilities; and utilizes scaffolding and rope access to access at-height and confined assets. In addition, the company offers certified divers for subsea inspection and maintenance; unmanned aerial, land-based, and subsea systems for inspection applications; online condition-monitoring solutions; quality assurance and quality control solutions for new and existing metal and alloy components, materials, and composites. Further, it builds monitoring systems, as well as provides inspection, maintenance, monitoring and data services; and Web-based solutions. Additionally, the company designs, manufactures, and sells acoustic emission sensors, instruments, and turnkey systems for monitoring and testing materials, pressure components, processes, and structures; and ultrasonic testing equipment. It serves oil and gas, aerospace and defense, fossil and nuclear power, power generation and transmission, civil infrastructure, manufacturing, industrial, public infrastructure, petrochemical, transportation, and other process industries, as well as infrastructure, research, and engineering industries. Mistras Group, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Princeton Junction, New Jersey.

About TaskUs

TaskUs, Inc. provides digital outsourcing services for companies in Philippines, the United States, India, and internationally. It offers digital customer experience that consists of omni-channel customer care services primarily delivered through non-voice digital channels; and other solutions, including experience and customer care services for new product or market launches, and customer acquisition solutions. The company also provides trust and safety solutions, such as review and disposition of user and advertiser generated visual, text, and audio content, which include removal or labeling of policy violating, and offensive or misleading content, as well as risk management, compliance, identity management, and fraud services; and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that consist of data labeling, annotation, context relevance, and transcription services for training and tuning machine learning algorithms that enables to develop AI systems. It serves clients in various industry segments comprising e-commerce, FinTech, food delivery and ride sharing, gaming, technology, HealthTech, social media, and streaming media. The company was formerly known as TU TopCo, Inc. and changed its name to TaskUs, Inc. in December 2020. TaskUs, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in New Braunfels, Texas.