Analyzing ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI) & Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI)

Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI) and ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Thomson Reuters has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICF International has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

17.3% of Thomson Reuters shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.1% of ICF International shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of ICF International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Thomson Reuters pays an annual dividend of $2.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. ICF International pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Thomson Reuters pays out 69.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ICF International pays out 11.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Thomson Reuters and ICF International”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Thomson Reuters	$7.48 billion	5.87	$1.50 billion	$3.76	26.94
ICF International	$1.87 billion	0.84	$91.59 million	$4.83	18.11

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Thomson Reuters and ICF International, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Thomson Reuters	0	6	10	1	2.71
ICF International	0	2	2	0	2.50

Thomson Reuters presently has a consensus target price of $131.57, suggesting a potential upside of 29.86%. ICF International has a consensus target price of $105.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.05%. Given Thomson Reuters’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Thomson Reuters is more favorable than ICF International.

Profitability

This table compares Thomson Reuters and ICF International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Thomson Reuters	21.22%	15.82%	10.27%
ICF International	4.86%	11.53%	5.73%

Summary

Thomson Reuters beats ICF International on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. The Corporates segment provides a suite of content-enabled technology solutions for legal, tax, regulatory, compliance, and IT professionals. The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on tax offerings and automating tax workflows to tax, accounting, and audit professionals in accounting firms. The Reuters News segment provides business, financial, and international news to media organizations, professional, and news consumers through news agency and industry events. The Global Print segment offers legal and tax information primarily in print format to legal and tax professionals, governments, law schools, and corporations. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Thomson Reuters Corporation is a subsidiary of The Woodbridge Company Limited.

About ICF International

ICF International, Inc. provides management, technology, and policy consulting and implementation services to government and commercial clients in the United States and internationally. The company researches critical policy, industry, stakeholder issues, trends, and behaviors; measures and evaluates results and their impact; and provides strategic planning and advisory services to its clients on how to navigate societal, business, market, business, communication, and technology challenges. It also identifies, defines, and implements policies, plans, programs, and business tools through a range of standard and customized methodologies for its clients' business context; conducts survey research; collects and analyzes various data to understand critical issues and options for its clients; and provides actionable business intelligence, as well as information and data management solutions that allow integrated and purpose-driven data usage. In addition, the company provides solutions to optimize the customer and citizen experience; modernizes IT systems; and cyber security solutions that support the range of cyber security missions and protect IT infrastructures in the face of relentless threats, as well as designs, develops, and implements technology systems and business tools that are key to its clients' mission or business performance. Further, it informs and engages its clients' constituents, customers, and employees through public relations, branding and marketing, multichannel and strategic communications, and reputation issues management. The company serves energy, environment, infrastructure, and disaster recovery; health and social programs; and security and other civilian and commercial markets. The company was formerly known as ICF Consulting Group Holdings, LLC and changed its name to ICF International, Inc. in 2006. ICF International, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.