Liquidity Services (NASDAQ:LQDT – Get Free Report) and Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
71.2% of Liquidity Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of Waste Connections shares are held by institutional investors. 28.1% of Liquidity Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Waste Connections shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Liquidity Services and Waste Connections”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Liquidity Services | $476.67 million | 2.83 | $28.09 million | $1.02 | 42.28 |
| Waste Connections | $9.47 billion | 4.05 | $1.08 billion | $4.15 | 36.84 |
Waste Connections has higher revenue and earnings than Liquidity Services. Waste Connections is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Liquidity Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Liquidity Services and Waste Connections, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Liquidity Services | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3.33 |
| Waste Connections | 0 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 2.89 |
Liquidity Services currently has a consensus price target of $50.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.93%. Waste Connections has a consensus price target of $199.78, suggesting a potential upside of 30.67%. Given Waste Connections’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Waste Connections is more favorable than Liquidity Services.
Risk and Volatility
Liquidity Services has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waste Connections has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Liquidity Services and Waste Connections’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Liquidity Services | 6.79% | 17.60% | 9.86% |
| Waste Connections | 10.86% | 17.31% | 6.62% |
Summary
Waste Connections beats Liquidity Services on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Liquidity Services
Liquidity Services, Inc. provides e-commerce marketplaces, self-directed auction listing tools, and value-added services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: GovDeals, Retail Supply Chain Group (RSCG), Capital Assets Group (CAG), and Machinio. Its marketplaces include liquidation.com that enable corporations to sell surplus and salvage consumer goods and retail capital assets; GovDeals marketplace, which provides self-directed service solutions in which sellers list their own assets that enables local and state government entities, and commercial businesses located in the United States and Canada to sell surplus and salvage assets; and AllSurplus, a centralized marketplace that connects global buyer base with assets from across the network of marketplaces in a single destination. The company also offers a suite of services, including surplus management, asset valuation, asset sales, marketing, returns management, asset recovery, and ecommerce services. In addition, it operates a global search engine platform for listing used equipment for sale in the construction, machine tool, transportation, printing, and agriculture sectors. The company offers products from industry verticals, such as consumer electronics, general merchandise, apparel, scientific equipment, aerospace parts and equipment, technology hardware, real estate, energy equipment, industrial capital assets, heavy equipment, fleet and transportation equipment, and specialty equipment. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.
About Waste Connections
Waste Connections, Inc. provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals. The company owns and operates transfer stations that receive compact and/or load waste to be transported to landfills or treatment facilities through truck, rail, or barge; and intermodal services for the rail haul movement of cargo and solid waste containers in the Pacific Northwest through a network of intermodal facilities. In addition, it provides E&P waste treatment, recovery, and disposal services for waste resulting from oil and natural gas exploration and production activity, such as drilling fluids, drill cuttings, completion fluids, and flowback water; production wastes and produced water during a well's operating life; contaminated soils that require treatment during site reclamation; and substances, which require clean-up after a spill, reserve pit clean-up, or pipeline rupture. Further, the company offers leasing services to its customers. Waste Connections, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Woodbridge, Canada.
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