Head-To-Head Survey: SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) and Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO)

SS&C Technologies (NASDAQ:SSNC) and Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for SS&C Technologies and Exponent, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SS&C Technologies	0	3	6	1	2.80
Exponent	0	2	2	0	2.50

SS&C Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $92.62, suggesting a potential upside of 17.83%. Exponent has a consensus price target of $81.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.21%. Given Exponent’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Exponent is more favorable than SS&C Technologies.

Dividends

SS&C Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Exponent pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. SS&C Technologies pays out 34.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Exponent pays out 55.6% 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. SS&C Technologies has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years and Exponent has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Exponent is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.9% of SS&C Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Exponent shares are held by institutional investors. 16.0% of SS&C Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Exponent shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares SS&C Technologies and Exponent’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SS&C Technologies	13.16%	21.20%	7.19%
Exponent	17.67%	31.48%	15.53%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SS&C Technologies and Exponent”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SS&C Technologies	$6.27 billion	2.94	$796.90 million	$3.48	22.59
Exponent	$582.01 million	5.24	$106.01 million	$2.23	28.78

SS&C Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Exponent. SS&C Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Exponent, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

SS&C Technologies has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exponent has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SS&C Technologies beats Exponent on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SS&C Technologies

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. engages in the development and provision of software solutions to the financial services and healthcare industries. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Japan, Canada, and the Americas, excluding the United States and Canada. Its products include advent genesis, antares, asset allocators, AWD, axys, BANC mall, BRIX, DST vision, evare, lightning, and moxy. The company was founded by William Charles Stone in March 1986 and is headquartered in Windsor, CT.

About Exponent

Exponent, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a science and engineering consulting company in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Engineering and Other Scientific, and Environmental and Health. The Engineering and Other Scientific segment provides services in the areas of biomechanics, biomedical engineering and sciences, buildings and structures, civil engineering, construction consulting, data sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, human factors, materials and corrosion engineering, mechanical engineering, polymer science and materials chemistry, thermal sciences, and vehicle engineering. The Environmental and Health segment offers services in the areas of chemical regulation and food safety, ecological and biological sciences, environmental and earth sciences, and health sciences. The company offers approximately 90 technical disciplines to solve pressing and complicated challenges facing stakeholders. It serves clients in chemical, construction, consumer products, energy, food, beverage and nutrition, government, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, technology, industrial equipment, transportation, and other sectors of the economy. The company was formerly known as The Failure Group, Inc. and changed its name to Exponent, Inc. in 1998. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.