Financial Comparison: ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI) versus Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT)

Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT) and ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Clarivate has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICF International has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Clarivate and ICF International, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clarivate	3	5	1	0	1.78
ICF International	0	2	2	0	2.50

Clarivate presently has a consensus target price of $2.65, indicating a potential upside of 15.47%. ICF International has a consensus target price of $105.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.71%. Given ICF International’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ICF International is more favorable than Clarivate.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clarivate	-17.02%	9.84%	4.29%
ICF International	5.29%	11.81%	5.97%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

85.7% of Clarivate shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.1% of ICF International shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.9% of Clarivate shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of ICF International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Clarivate and ICF International”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clarivate	$2.46 billion	0.60	-$201.10 million	($0.61)	-3.76
ICF International	$1.87 billion	0.79	$91.59 million	$5.31	15.48

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

Summary

ICF International beats Clarivate on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Clarivate

Clarivate provides information, analytics and workflow tools to customers in academia and government, life sciences and healthcare, and intellectual property. Its services help organizations find and analyze research, assess scientific and commercial developments, and manage patents, trademarks and other intellectual property. Its products include Web of Science and ProQuest research resources, Cortellis life sciences intelligence, and intellectual property databases and services such as Derwent.

About ICF International

ICF International, Inc. is a consulting and technology services company headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Founded in 1969 as the Inner City Fund, the company works with government agencies and commercial clients, combining advisory services with technology implementation and digital solutions. Its work spans energy and climate, environmental management, health, social programs, and disaster recovery. ICF also provides policy research, data analytics, program management, strategic communications, and technology services, including support for digital transformation and cybersecurity initiatives.