Critical Survey: MDA Space (NYSE:MDA) and VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC)

MDA Space (NYSE:MDA) and VSE (NASDAQ:VSEC) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for MDA Space and VSE, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MDA Space	0	3	4	2	2.89
VSE	0	2	8	2	3.00

MDA Space presently has a consensus target price of $50.67, suggesting a potential upside of 59.93%. VSE has a consensus target price of $239.78, suggesting a potential upside of 17.25%. Given MDA Space’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe MDA Space is more favorable than VSE.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MDA Space and VSE”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MDA Space	$1.75 billion	2.94	$45.40 million	$0.28	113.14
VSE	$1.11 billion	5.16	$11.70 million	$2.37	86.29

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

Profitability

This table compares MDA Space and VSE’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MDA Space	N/A	N/A	N/A
VSE	4.95%	6.56%	4.68%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.5% of VSE shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of VSE shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

VSE beats MDA Space on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MDA Space

MDA Space Ltd is a developer and manufacturer of technology and services to the space industry. It is an international space mission partner and robotics, satellite systems, and geo-intelligence pioneer. It is engaged in communications satellites, Earth and space observation, space exploration, and infrastructure. The Company collaborates and partners with governments and space agencies, commercial space companies, and defence and aerospace prime contractors in the space industry. Geographically, it generates the majority of its revenue from Canada.

About VSE

VSE Corporation operates as a diversified aftermarket products and services company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Aviation and Fleet. The Aviation segment provides aftermarket parts supply and distribution; maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for components and engine accessories supporting commercial, business, and general aviation operators. This segment serves commercial airlines, regional airlines, cargo transporters, MRO integrators and providers, aviation manufacturers, corporate and private aircraft owners, and fixed-base operators. The Fleet segment offers parts supply, inventory management, e-commerce fulfillment, logistics, supply chain support, and other services to support the commercial aftermarket medium- and heavy-duty truck market. This segment also provides sale of vehicle parts and supply chain services to support client truck fleets, as well as sustainment solutions and managed inventory services to government and commercial truck fleets. VSE Corporation was incorporated in 1959 and is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.