Head-To-Head Review: Smiths Group (OTCMKTS:SMGZY) versus LiveRamp (NYSE:RAMP)

Smiths Group (OTCMKTS:SMGZY) and LiveRamp (NYSE:RAMP) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Smiths Group and LiveRamp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smiths Group	0	2	1	1	2.75
LiveRamp	0	6	2	0	2.25

LiveRamp has a consensus target price of $40.21, suggesting a potential upside of 6.94%. Given LiveRamp’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LiveRamp is more favorable than Smiths Group.

Profitability

This table compares Smiths Group and LiveRamp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smiths Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
LiveRamp	17.95%	8.28%	6.29%

Risk & Volatility

Smiths Group has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LiveRamp has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smiths Group and LiveRamp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smiths Group	$3.79 billion	2.74	$356.09 million	N/A	N/A
LiveRamp	$812.94 million	2.78	$145.95 million	$2.28	16.49

Smiths Group has higher revenue and earnings than LiveRamp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.8% of LiveRamp shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of LiveRamp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

LiveRamp beats Smiths Group on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Smiths Group

Smiths Group plc operates as a technology company in Americas, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through four divisions: John Crane, Smiths Detection, Flex-Tek, and Smiths Interconnect. The John Crane division offers mechanical seals, seal support systems, power transmission couplings, and specialized filtration systems. The Smiths Detection division provides sensors and systems that detect and identify explosives, narcotics, weapons, chemical agents, biohazards, and contraband. The Flex-Tek division offers engineered components, flexible hosing, and rigid tubing that heat and move fluids and gases. The Smiths Interconnect division provides specialized electronic and radio frequency board-level and waveguide devices, connectors, cables, test sockets, and sub-systems used in secure connectivity applications. The company serves general industrial, safety and security, energy, and aerospace markets. The company was formerly known as Smiths Industries and changed its name to Smiths Group plc in 2000. Smiths Group plc was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About LiveRamp

LiveRamp Holdings, Inc., a technology company, operates a data collaboration platform in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company operates LiveRamp Data Collaboration platform enables an organization to unify customer and prospect data to build a single view of the customer in a way that protects consumer privacy. Its platform supports various people-based marketing solutions, including data collaboration, activation, measurement and analytics, identity, and data marketplace. The company sells its solutions to enterprise marketers, agencies, marketing technology providers, publishers, and data providers in various industry verticals, such as financial, insurance and investment services, retail, automotive, telecommunications, high tech, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, travel, entertainment, and non-profit. The company was formerly known as Acxiom Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to LiveRamp Holdings, Inc. in October 2018. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.