IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX) and Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) Critical Analysis

Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) and IBEX (NASDAQ:IBEX) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Bowman Consulting Group and IBEX, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bowman Consulting Group	0	3	3	0	2.50
IBEX	0	3	0	0	2.00

Bowman Consulting Group presently has a consensus price target of $45.50, indicating a potential upside of 61.12%. IBEX has a consensus price target of $35.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.99%. Given Bowman Consulting Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Bowman Consulting Group is more favorable than IBEX.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

63.2% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of IBEX shares are held by institutional investors. 17.4% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of IBEX shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Bowman Consulting Group and IBEX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bowman Consulting Group	2.48%	4.78%	2.25%
IBEX	7.35%	31.70%	15.65%

Risk and Volatility

Bowman Consulting Group has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IBEX has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Bowman Consulting Group and IBEX”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bowman Consulting Group	$490.02 million	0.99	$12.85 million	$0.71	39.77
IBEX	$558.27 million	0.69	$36.86 million	$3.04	9.44

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

About Bowman Consulting Group

Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. provides a range of real estate, energy, infrastructure, and environmental management solutions in the United States. It offers civil and site engineering services, such as conceptual land planning, environmental consulting and permitting, planning/zoning and entitlements, roadway and highway designs, erosion and sediment designs, stormwater management designs, construction administration, traffic studies, floodplain studies, and utility relocation designs; and commissioning and energy efficiency services comprise construction observation, direct systems functional performance testing, system development readiness checklist, post occupancy review, review of construction documents, deferred/seasonal functional testing, final commissioning report, and commissioning review of submittals. The company also provides construction management services, including constructability review, value engineering, budgeting and cost estimating, interagency and utility coordination, onsite observation and report evaluation, public communication and outreach, and resident engineer services, as well as bid solicitation, documentation, and preparation services; and environmental consulting services consisting of wetlands and waters of the U.S. delineations, natural resources inventories, wildlife and vegetation surveys, threatened and endangered species surveys, endangered species conservation and management, wetland creation and enhancement design, NEPA documentation, section 404/401 permitting and compliance, NPDES permitting, and phase I environmental site assessment. In addition, it offers landscape architecture, land procurement and right-of-way acquisition, structural engineering, surveying and geospatial engineering, and transportation and water resources engineering services, as well as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

About IBEX

IBEX Limited provides end-to-end technology-enabled customer lifecycle experience solutions in the United States and internationally. The company products and services portfolio includes ibex Connect, that offers customer service, technical support, revenue generation, and other revenue generation outsourced back-office services through the CX model, which integrates voice, email, chat, SMS, social media, and other communication applications; ibex Digital, a customer acquisition solution that comprises digital marketing, e-commerce technology, and platform solutions; and ibex CX, a customer experience solution, which provides a suite of proprietary software tools to measure, monitor, and manage its clients' customer experience. It operates customer engagement and customer acquisition delivery centers. The company serves banking and financial services, delivery and logistics, health tech and wellness, high tech, retail and e-commerce, streaming and entertainment, travel and hospitality, and utility industries. The company was formerly known as IBEX Holdings Limited and changed its name to IBEX Limited in September 2019. IBEX Limited was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia. The company is a subsidiary of The Resource Group International Limited.