Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) & Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY) Head-To-Head Survey

Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) and Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Willdan Group and Korn/Ferry International, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Willdan Group	0	1	1	1	3.00
Korn/Ferry International	0	1	4	0	2.80

Willdan Group presently has a consensus price target of $127.50, suggesting a potential upside of 67.74%. Korn/Ferry International has a consensus price target of $80.25, suggesting a potential upside of 11.14%. Given Willdan Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Willdan Group is more favorable than Korn/Ferry International.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.3% of Willdan Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of Korn/Ferry International shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Willdan Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Korn/Ferry International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Willdan Group and Korn/Ferry International”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Willdan Group	$681.55 million	1.70	$52.56 million	$4.26	17.84
Korn/Ferry International	$2.99 billion	1.32	$277.43 million	$5.30	13.62

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

Risk & Volatility

Willdan Group has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Korn/Ferry International has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Willdan Group and Korn/Ferry International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Willdan Group	8.80%	24.51%	13.92%
Korn/Ferry International	9.36%	14.43%	7.36%

Summary

Willdan Group beats Korn/Ferry International on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Willdan Group

Willdan Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides professional, technical, and consulting services primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy, and Engineering and Consulting. The Energy segment offers comprehensive audit and surveys, program design and implementation, master planning, demand reduction, grid optimization, benchmarking analyses, design engineering, construction management, performance contracting, installation, alternative financing, measurement and verification services, and software and data analytics, as well as energy consulting and engineering, turnkey facility and infrastructure projects, and customer support services. The Engineering and Consulting segment provides building and safety, city engineering and code enforcement, development plan review and inspection, disaster recovery, geotechnical and earthquake engineering, planning and surveying, contract staff support, program and construction management, structural engineering, transportation and traffic engineering, and water resources services. This segment also offers district administration, financial consulting, and federal compliance services. It serves public and governmental agencies, including cities, counties, redevelopment agencies, water districts, school districts, and universities; investor and municipal owned energy utilities; state and federal agencies; and commercial and industrial firms, as well as various other special districts and agencies. The company was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Anaheim, California.

About Korn/Ferry International

Korn Ferry, together with its subsidiaries, provides organizational consulting services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consulting, Digital, Executive Search, and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) & Professional Search. The company provides executive search services to recruit board level, chief executive, other senior executive, and general management talent of organizations. It also offers organizational strategy, assessment and succession, leadership and professional development, and total reward services. In addition, the company provides RPO, business project, professional search, and outsource recruiting solutions. Further, the company offers tech-enabled solutions that identify structures, roles, capabilities, and behaviors to drive businesses. It serves public and private companies, and middle market and emerging growth companies, as well as government and non-profit organizations. The company was formerly known as Korn/Ferry International and changed its name to Korn Ferry in January 2019. Korn Ferry was founded in 1969 and is based in Los Angeles, California.