Head to Head Review: Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN)

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Upwork and FTI Consulting, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Upwork	1	9	3	0	2.15
FTI Consulting	0	2	0	0	2.00

Upwork currently has a consensus target price of $13.55, suggesting a potential upside of 39.12%. FTI Consulting has a consensus target price of $174.50, suggesting a potential downside of 11.68%. Given Upwork’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Upwork is more favorable than FTI Consulting.

Profitability

This table compares Upwork and FTI Consulting’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Upwork	13.53%	16.92%	8.79%
FTI Consulting	5.86%	18.41%	7.96%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.7% of Upwork shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.4% of FTI Consulting shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.9% of Upwork shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of FTI Consulting shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Upwork has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FTI Consulting has a beta of -0.15, meaning that its stock price is 115% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Upwork and FTI Consulting”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Upwork	$787.78 million	1.56	$115.43 million	$0.81	12.02
FTI Consulting	$3.79 billion	1.42	$270.87 million	$8.02	24.63

FTI Consulting has higher revenue and earnings than Upwork. Upwork is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FTI Consulting, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Upwork beats FTI Consulting on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Upwork

Upwork operates an online marketplace that connects businesses with independent professionals and agencies for contract and project-based work. The platform supports hiring across areas such as software development, design, marketing, writing, customer service and consulting. Its services include the Talent Marketplace, where clients can find and hire professionals, and Project Catalog, which offers predefined services with set scopes. Upwork also provides solutions for larger organizations seeking to source and manage freelance talent.

About FTI Consulting

FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm that helps organizations address financial, legal, operational, regulatory and reputational challenges. Founded in 1982, the company serves businesses, law firms, government agencies and other organizations. Its services span corporate finance and restructuring, forensic and litigation consulting, economic consulting, technology and strategic communications. Work may include advising on restructuring and transactions, investigating disputes and misconduct, providing expert analysis in legal matters, managing electronic evidence and supporting communications during significant events.