Reviewing CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) & Gartner (NYSE:IT)

Gartner (NYSE:IT) and CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.5% of Gartner shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of CBIZ shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Gartner shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of CBIZ shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Gartner and CBIZ”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gartner	$6.42 billion	2.87	$1.25 billion	$16.25	14.95
CBIZ	$1.81 billion	1.70	$41.04 million	$1.74	32.91

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

Profitability

This table compares Gartner and CBIZ’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gartner	19.71%	82.63%	13.58%
CBIZ	4.51%	14.73%	6.10%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Gartner and CBIZ, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gartner	1	6	3	0	2.20
CBIZ	0	0	1	0	3.00

Gartner currently has a consensus target price of $357.44, indicating a potential upside of 47.09%. Given Gartner’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Gartner is more favorable than CBIZ.

Volatility and Risk

Gartner has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CBIZ has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Gartner beats CBIZ on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. operates as a research and advisory company in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Research, Conferences, and Consulting. The Research segment delivers its research primarily through a subscription service that include on-demand access to published research content, data and benchmarks, and direct access to a network of research experts. The Conferences segment offers executives and teams in an organization the opportunity to learn, share, and network. The Consulting segment offers market-leading research, custom analysis, and on-the-ground support services. This segment also offers actionable solutions for IT-related priorities, including IT cost optimization, digital transformation, and IT sourcing optimization. Gartner, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About CBIZ

CBIZ, Inc. provides financial, insurance, and advisory services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Financial Services, Benefits and Insurance Services, and National Practices segments. The Financial Services segment offers accounting and tax, financial advisory, valuation, risk and advisory, and government healthcare consulting services. The Benefits and Insurance Services provides employee benefits consulting, payroll/human capital management, property and casualty insurance, and retirement and investment services. The National Practices segment offers information technology managed networking and hardware, and health care consulting services. The company primarily serves small and medium-sized businesses, as well as individuals, governmental entities, and not-for-profit enterprises. CBIZ, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Independence, Ohio.