Financial Review: Willdan Group (NASDAQ:WLDN) & Atlantic International (NASDAQ:ATLN)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Willdan Group and Atlantic International, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Willdan Group	0	1	3	0	2.75
Atlantic International	1	1	0	1	2.33

Willdan Group currently has a consensus price target of $111.50, suggesting a potential upside of 20.36%. Given Willdan Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Willdan Group is more favorable than Atlantic International.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

72.3% of Willdan Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.6% of Willdan Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.6% of Atlantic International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Willdan Group and Atlantic 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	$651.93 million	2.08	$22.57 million	$2.78	33.32
Atlantic International	$443.06 million	0.33	-$135.48 million	($2.20)	-1.14

Willdan Group has higher revenue and earnings than Atlantic International. Atlantic 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Willdan Group	5.60%	18.60%	9.65%
Atlantic International	-21.93%	-3,234.95%	-82.41%

Risk and Volatility

Willdan Group has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic International has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Willdan Group beats Atlantic International on 13 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 Atlantic International

Atlantic International Corp. engages in the design, development, and manufacture of genetic analysis technologies. Its services include RNA sequencing and DNA sequencing. The company was founded by William C. St. Laurent and Daniel R. Jones in 2013 and is headquartered in Billercia, MA.