Head to Head Survey: Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) and IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX)

IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX) and Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.2% of IBEX shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.0% of Healthcare Services Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of IBEX shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Healthcare Services Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares IBEX and Healthcare Services Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IBEX	7.35%	31.70%	15.65%
Healthcare Services Group	3.67%	17.81%	11.06%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares IBEX and Healthcare Services Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IBEX	$603.27 million	0.63	$36.86 million	$3.04	9.33
Healthcare Services Group	$1.85 billion	0.81	$59.06 million	$0.96	22.64

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

Risk & Volatility

IBEX has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Healthcare Services Group has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for IBEX and Healthcare Services Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IBEX	0	3	0	0	2.00
Healthcare Services Group	0	5	4	0	2.44

IBEX currently has a consensus price target of $35.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.46%. Healthcare Services Group has a consensus price target of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.45%. Given IBEX’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe IBEX is more favorable than Healthcare Services Group.

Summary

Healthcare Services Group beats IBEX on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IBEX

IBEX Limited provides end-to-end technology-enabled customer lifecycle experience solutions in the United States and internationally. The company products and services portfolio includes ibex Connect, that offers customer service, technical support, revenue generation, and other revenue generation outsourced back-office services through the CX model, which integrates voice, email, chat, SMS, social media, and other communication applications; ibex Digital, a customer acquisition solution that comprises digital marketing, e-commerce technology, and platform solutions; and ibex CX, a customer experience solution, which provides a suite of proprietary software tools to measure, monitor, and manage its clients' customer experience. It operates customer engagement and customer acquisition delivery centers. The company serves banking and financial services, delivery and logistics, health tech and wellness, high tech, retail and e-commerce, streaming and entertainment, travel and hospitality, and utility industries. The company was formerly known as IBEX Holdings Limited and changed its name to IBEX Limited in September 2019. IBEX Limited was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia. The company is a subsidiary of The Resource Group International Limited.

About Healthcare Services Group

Healthcare Services Group, Inc. provides management, administrative, and operating services to the housekeeping, laundry, linen, facility maintenance, and dietary service departments of nursing homes, retirement complexes, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals in the United States. It operates through two segments, Housekeeping and Dietary. The Housekeeping segment engages in the cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing of resident rooms and common areas of the customers' facilities, as well as laundering and processing of the bed linens, uniforms, resident personal clothing, and other assorted linen items utilized at the customers' facilities. The Dietary segment provides food purchasing, meal preparation, and professional dietitian services, which include the development of menus that meet the dietary needs of residents; and on-site management and clinical consulting services to facilities. It serves long-term and post-acute care facilities, hospitals, and the healthcare industry through referrals and solicitation of target facilities. The company was incorporated in 1976 and is based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.