BrightView (NYSE:BV) vs. Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) Critical Analysis

Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS) and BrightView (NYSE:BV) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Cintas and BrightView, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cintas	1	6	6	1	2.50
BrightView	3	2	2	2	2.33

Cintas presently has a consensus target price of $216.92, indicating a potential upside of 28.47%. BrightView has a consensus target price of $14.68, indicating a potential upside of 25.66%. Given Cintas’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Cintas is more favorable than BrightView.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

63.5% of Cintas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of BrightView shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Cintas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of BrightView shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cintas and BrightView”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cintas	$10.34 billion	6.53	$1.81 billion	$3.43	49.23
BrightView	$2.67 billion	0.41	$56.00 million	($0.02)	-584.25

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

Volatility & Risk

Cintas has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BrightView has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cintas and BrightView’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cintas	17.57%	41.47%	19.36%
BrightView	1.90%	7.85%	2.98%

Summary

Cintas beats BrightView on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cintas

Cintas Corporation engages in the provision of corporate identity uniforms and related business services primarily in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Uniform Rental and Facility Services, First Aid and Safety Services, and All Other segments. The company rents and services uniforms and other garments, including flame resistant clothing, mats, mops and shop towels, and other ancillary items; and provides restroom cleaning services and supplies, as well as sells uniforms. In addition, the company offers first aid and safety services, and fire protection products and services. It provides its products and services through its distribution network and local delivery routes, or local representatives to small service and manufacturing companies, as well as major corporations. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cintas Corporation was formerly a subsidiary of Cintas Corporation.

About BrightView

BrightView Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides commercial landscaping services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Maintenance Services and Development Services. The Maintenance Services segment delivers a suite of recurring commercial landscaping services, including mowing, gardening, mulching and snow removal, water management, irrigation maintenance, tree care, golf course maintenance, and specialty turf maintenance. Its customers' properties include corporate and commercial properties, homeowners associations, public parks, hotels and resorts, airport authorities, municipalities, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, educational institutions, restaurants and retail, and golf courses. This segment's customer base includes approximately 8,800 office parks and corporate campuses 7,100 residential communities, and 550 educational institutions. The Development Services segment offers landscape architecture and development services for new facilities and redesign projects. Its services include project design and management services, landscape architecture and installation, irrigation installation, tree moving and installation, pool and water features, sports field, and other services. BrightView Holdings, Inc. also operates as official field consultant to various league baseball. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.