Head to Head Comparison: Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) & ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI)

Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) and ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Research Solutions and ICF International”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Research Solutions	$48.31 million	1.50	$2.82 million	$0.09	23.78
ICF International	$1.87 billion	0.79	$91.59 million	$4.83	17.19

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

33.6% of Research Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.1% of ICF International shares are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of Research Solutions shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of ICF International shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Research Solutions and ICF International, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Research Solutions	0	2	3	0	2.60
ICF International	0	2	2	0	2.50

Research Solutions presently has a consensus target price of $3.83, indicating a potential upside of 79.13%. ICF International has a consensus target price of $105.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.46%. Given Research Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Research Solutions is more favorable than ICF International.

Profitability

This table compares Research Solutions and ICF International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Research Solutions	5.84%	15.55%	6.22%
ICF International	4.86%	11.53%	5.73%

Volatility and Risk

Research Solutions has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICF International has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Research Solutions beats ICF International on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Research Solutions

Research Solutions, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides research cloud-based software-as-a-service software platform and related services to corporate, academic, government and individual researchers in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It provides Discover platform that facilitates search discovery across virtually all scientific, technical, and medical (STM) articles available, including free basic search solutions and advanced search tools, which include the Resolute.ai and scite.ai products, a tools that allows for searching and identifying relevant research and find insights in other datasets adjacent to STM content, such as clinical trial, patent, life science and medtech regulatory information, competitor and technology landscape insights in addition to searching the customer’s internal datasets. The company also offers Article Galaxy, a solution that allows research organizations to load their entitlements, consisting of subscriptions, discount or token packages, and their existing library of articles. In addition, it provides Manage platform, a references solution that allows users to access the article inside the platform including setting up personal folders or team folders and allows researchers to markup and take notes on the articles in a supported browser on a desktop or tablet. Further, the company’s platform facilitates the sale of published STM content sold as individual articles. The company was formerly known as Derycz Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Research Solutions, Inc. in March 2013. Research Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Henderson, Nevada.

About ICF International

ICF International, Inc. provides management, technology, and policy consulting and implementation services to government and commercial clients in the United States and internationally. The company researches critical policy, industry, stakeholder issues, trends, and behaviors; measures and evaluates results and their impact; and provides strategic planning and advisory services to its clients on how to navigate societal, business, market, business, communication, and technology challenges. It also identifies, defines, and implements policies, plans, programs, and business tools through a range of standard and customized methodologies for its clients' business context; conducts survey research; collects and analyzes various data to understand critical issues and options for its clients; and provides actionable business intelligence, as well as information and data management solutions that allow integrated and purpose-driven data usage. In addition, the company provides solutions to optimize the customer and citizen experience; modernizes IT systems; and cyber security solutions that support the range of cyber security missions and protect IT infrastructures in the face of relentless threats, as well as designs, develops, and implements technology systems and business tools that are key to its clients' mission or business performance. Further, it informs and engages its clients' constituents, customers, and employees through public relations, branding and marketing, multichannel and strategic communications, and reputation issues management. The company serves energy, environment, infrastructure, and disaster recovery; health and social programs; and security and other civilian and commercial markets. The company was formerly known as ICF Consulting Group Holdings, LLC and changed its name to ICF International, Inc. in 2006. ICF International, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.