Financial Comparison: TriNet Group (TNET) and The Competition

TriNet Group (NYSE:TNET) is one of 203 publicly-traded companies in the “Professional Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare TriNet Group to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares TriNet Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TriNet Group	3.56%	202.90%	5.74%
TriNet Group Competitors	-0.24%	28.23%	4.31%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.8% of TriNet Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.4% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 40.0% of TriNet Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.1% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies 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.

Dividends

TriNet Group pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. TriNet Group pays out 31.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Professional Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.4% and pay out -164.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. TriNet Group has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. TriNet Group lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for TriNet Group and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TriNet Group	1	5	1	0	2.00
TriNet Group Competitors	1587	6458	9172	431	2.48

TriNet Group currently has a consensus price target of $60.83, suggesting a potential downside of 11.46%. As a group, “Professional Services” companies have a potential upside of 23.70%. Given TriNet Group’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe TriNet Group has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares TriNet Group and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
TriNet Group	$5.01 billion	$155.00 million	18.62
TriNet Group Competitors	$3.28 billion	$228.38 million	35.86

TriNet Group has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. TriNet Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk & Volatility

TriNet Group has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TriNet Group’s peers have a beta of 0.97, indicating that their average share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TriNet Group peers beat TriNet Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About TriNet Group

TriNet Group, Inc. provides comprehensive and flexible human capital management services for small and medium size businesses in the United States. The company offers multi-state payroll processing and tax administration; employee benefits programs, including health insurance and retirement plans; workers compensation insurance and claims management; employment and benefits law compliance; and other HR related services. It also provides technology platform, an online and mobile tool that allows users to store, view, and manager HR information and administer various HR transactions, such as payroll processing, tax administration and credits, employee onboarding and termination, employee performance, time and attendance, compensation reporting, expense management, and benefits enrollment and administration, as well as incorporated workforce analytics and allows professional employer organization clients to generate HR data, payroll, compensation, and other custom reports. The company serves clients in various industries, including technology, professional services, financial services, life sciences, and not-for-profit. It sells its solutions through its direct sales organization. TriNet Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Dublin, California.