Comparing NV5 Global (NASDAQ:NVEE) and Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock (NASDAQ:PHLT)

Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock (NASDAQ:PHLT) and NV5 Global (NASDAQ:NVEE) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock and NV5 Global, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	0	0	0	1	4.00
NV5 Global	0	1	2	0	2.67

NV5 Global has a consensus price target of $25.67, suggesting a potential upside of 59.82%. Given NV5 Global’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe NV5 Global is more favorable than Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.2% of Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.5% of NV5 Global shares are held by institutional investors. 9.2% of Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.4% of NV5 Global shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock has a beta of -0.11, indicating that its stock price is 111% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NV5 Global has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock and NV5 Global”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	$122.98 million	1.53	-$7.52 million	($0.13)	-18.54
NV5 Global	$941.27 million	1.11	$44.61 million	$0.49	32.78

NV5 Global has higher revenue and earnings than Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock. Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NV5 Global, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock and NV5 Global’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock	-6.74%	-10.19%	-7.83%
NV5 Global	3.25%	9.34%	6.02%

Summary

NV5 Global beats Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Performant Healthcare, Inc. – Common Stock

Performant Healthcare, Inc. engages in the provision of technology-enabled audit, recovery, customer care, and related analytics services. Its services help identify improper payments, and in some markets, restructure and recover delinquent or defaulted assets and improper payments for both government and private clients. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Plantation, FL.

About NV5 Global

NV5 Global, Inc. provides technology, conformity assessment, consulting solutions, and software applications to public and private sector clients in the infrastructure, utility services, construction, real estate, environmental, and geospatial markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Infrastructure; Building, Technology & Sciences; and Geospatial Solutions. The company offers site selection and planning, design, water resources, structural engineering, land development, surveying, power delivery, building code compliance, and other services. It is also involved in the construction of highways, bridges and tunnels; development of rail and light rail systems; provision of services related to street and roadway construction; and construction materials testing and engineering, geotechnical engineering and consulting, and forensic consulting services. In addition, the company provides governmental outsourcing and consulting, and technical outsourcing services; and geospatial data analytic and mapping services, as well as remote sensing services. Further, it offers mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design; commissioning; energy performance, management, and optimization; climate change and reducing CO2 emissions; building program management; acoustical design consulting; and audiovisualsecurity and surveillanceinformation technologydata center services. Additionally, the company provides various services, such as investigating and analyzing environmental conditions, and recommending corrective measures and procedures; occupational health and safety services; radiation exposure and protection, and nuclear safety and industrial hygiene analyses services; hydrogeological modeling and environmental programs. The company was formerly known as NV5 Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to NV5 Global, Inc. in December 2015. NV5 Global, Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Hollywood, Florida.