Head-To-Head Contrast: LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) vs. Leidos (NYSE:LDOS)

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) and Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares LegalZoom.com and Leidos’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LegalZoom.com	2.13%	15.83%	5.08%
Leidos	7.80%	30.81%	10.78%

Volatility and Risk

LegalZoom.com has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Leidos has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares LegalZoom.com and Leidos”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LegalZoom.com	$756.04 million	1.34	$15.43 million	$0.09	65.72
Leidos	$17.17 billion	0.86	$1.45 billion	$10.72	11.01

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.0% of LegalZoom.com shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of Leidos shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of LegalZoom.com shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Leidos shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for LegalZoom.com and Leidos, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LegalZoom.com	3	5	0	0	1.62
Leidos	0	11	5	1	2.41

LegalZoom.com currently has a consensus price target of $7.30, suggesting a potential upside of 23.42%. Leidos has a consensus price target of $156.14, suggesting a potential upside of 32.25%. Given Leidos’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Leidos is more favorable than LegalZoom.com.

Summary

Leidos beats LegalZoom.com on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LegalZoom.com

LegalZoom.com, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates an online platform that supports the legal, compliance, and business management needs of small businesses and consumers in the United States. The company’s platform offers business formation products, such as limited liability company, incorporation of C and S corporations, nonprofit formations, doing-business-as, corporate changes and filings, business licenses, legal forms, and beneficial ownership information reports; intellectual property products consisting of trademark and patent applications, and copyright registrations; and tax services, including business and personal tax preparations. It also provides consumer, estate planning, and other services comprising last will and testament, living will, living trust, power of attorney, and name change. In addition, the company offers subscriptions services, including registered agent, compliance, attorney advice, tax advice and preparation, eSignature, virtual mail and check deposit services, trademark monitoring, and estate planning bundle. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

About Leidos

Leidos Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health segments. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, the space development agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, defense information systems agency, military services, and government agencies of U.S. allies abroad, as well as other federal and commercial customers in the national security industry. The solutions include technology, large-scale systems, command and control platforms, data analytics, logistics, and cybersecurity solutions, as well as intelligence analysis and operations support services to critical missions. The Civil segment provides systems integration services to air navigation service providers, including the federal aviation administration, the En route automation modernization, advanced technology oceanic procedure, time based flow management, terminal flight data management, geo-7, and future flight services, as well as enterprise-information display systems; and security detection services. It also offers information technology (IT) solutions in cloud computing, mobility, application modernization, DevOps, data center, network modernization, asset management, help desk operations, and digital workplace enablement; and environment, energy, and infrastructure services. The Health segment offers solutions to federal and commercial customers responsible for health and well-being of people, include health information management, managed health, digital modernization, and life sciences research and development services. Leidos Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.