TransUnion (TRU) and Its Competitors Head to Head Survey

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) is one of 203 publicly-traded companies in the “Professional Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare TransUnion to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Dividends

TransUnion pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. TransUnion pays out 13.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Professional Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.5% and pay out -167.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. TransUnion has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. TransUnion lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.3% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of TransUnion shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

TransUnion has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TransUnion’s peers have a beta of 0.96, suggesting that their average share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for TransUnion and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TransUnion	1	8	10	0	2.47
TransUnion Competitors	1595	6491	9188	433	2.48

TransUnion presently has a consensus target price of $90.72, suggesting a potential upside of 10.73%. As a group, “Professional Services” companies have a potential upside of 27.68%. Given TransUnion’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TransUnion has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares TransUnion and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TransUnion	15.83%	16.51%	6.77%
TransUnion Competitors	0.25%	36.77%	4.43%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares TransUnion and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
TransUnion	$5.04 billion	$455.40 million	19.93
TransUnion Competitors	$3.30 billion	$228.39 million	37.53

TransUnion has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. TransUnion is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

TransUnion peers beat TransUnion on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About TransUnion

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that helps businesses assess risk, prevent fraud and make informed decisions. Its services include credit reporting and scoring, identity verification, fraud detection, and data and analytics solutions for industries such as financial services, retail, insurance and telecommunications. The company also provides consumers with access to credit information and tools to monitor and manage their financial identities. Its offerings include credit reports, credit monitoring and identity-protection services.