Financial Contrast: Aeries Technology (NASDAQ:AERT) and TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI)

Aeries Technology (NASDAQ:AERT) and TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Aeries Technology and TrueBlue”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aeries Technology	$76.60 million	0.37	$2.55 million	$0.43	12.63
TrueBlue	$1.62 billion	0.23	-$47.96 million	($1.54)	-7.84

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Aeries Technology and TrueBlue, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aeries Technology	0	1	0	0	2.00
TrueBlue	1	1	0	0	1.50

TrueBlue has a consensus target price of $9.50, indicating a potential downside of 21.28%. Given TrueBlue’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe TrueBlue is more favorable than Aeries Technology.

Profitability

This table compares Aeries Technology and TrueBlue’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aeries Technology	3.68%	-114.69%	6.81%
TrueBlue	-2.55%	-2.85%	-1.17%

Volatility and Risk

Aeries Technology has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TrueBlue has a beta of 1.74, indicating that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.2% of Aeries Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.2% of TrueBlue shares are held by institutional investors. 63.6% of Aeries Technology shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of TrueBlue 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.

Summary

Aeries Technology beats TrueBlue on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aeries Technology

Aeries Technology, Inc. operates as a professional services and consulting partner in the North America, Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company offers management consultancy services for private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, including software solutions, product management, IT infrastructure, information and cyber security, ERP and CRM platform management, business process management, and digital transformation services. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About TrueBlue

TrueBlue, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides specialized workforce solutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Puerto Rico. It operates through three segments: PeopleReady, PeopleManagement, and PeopleScout. The company PeopleReady segment provides general, industrial, and skilled trade contingent staffing services for construction, transportation, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and renewable energy industries. The PeopleManagement segment offers contingent, on-site industrial staffing, and commercial driver services, which includes on-site management and recruitment for the contingent industrial workforce of manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution facilities; and recruitment and management of contingent and dedicated commercial drivers to the transportation and distribution industries under the Staff Management, SIMOS Insourcing Solutions, and Centerline Drivers brands. The company PeopleScout segment provides recruitment process outsourcing, talent advisory services, and managed service provider solutions including sourcing, screening, hiring, and onboarding services; operates Affinix, a technology platform for sourcing, screening, and delivering a permanent workforce to its clients; talent advisory services, such as employer branding, recruitment marketing, talent insights, diversity, equity and inclusion consulting, candidate assessment, and talent acquisition strategy consulting services; and contingent labor programs including vendor selection, performance management, compliance monitoring, and risk management. TrueBlue, Inc. was formerly known as Labor Ready, Inc. and changed its name to TrueBlue, Inc. in December 2007. The company was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.