Critical Contrast: HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) & Aeries Technology (NASDAQ:AERT)

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) and Aeries Technology (NASDAQ:AERT) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for HireQuest and Aeries Technology, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HireQuest	0	1	2	0	2.67
Aeries Technology	0	1	0	0	2.00

HireQuest currently has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.72%. Given HireQuest’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe HireQuest is more favorable than Aeries Technology.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares HireQuest and Aeries Technology”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HireQuest	$30.64 million	7.32	$6.33 million	$0.57	28.32
Aeries Technology	$70.01 million	0.54	$2.55 million	$0.43	16.63

HireQuest has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Aeries Technology. Aeries Technology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HireQuest, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

12.0% of HireQuest shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.2% of Aeries Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 42.9% of HireQuest shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 63.6% of Aeries Technology shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

HireQuest has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aeries Technology has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares HireQuest and Aeries Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HireQuest	27.06%	16.35%	12.11%
Aeries Technology	3.68%	-114.69%	6.81%

Summary

HireQuest beats Aeries Technology on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc. provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries. The company provides its services under the HireQuest Direct, HireQuest, SNelling, DriverQuest, HireQuest Health, Northbound Executive Search, and MRI trade names. It serves construction, recycling, warehousing, logistics, auctioneering, manufacturing, hospitality, landscaping, and retail industries, as well as dental practices. HireQuest, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

About Aeries Technology

Aeries Technology, Inc. operates as a professional services and consulting partner in the North America, Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company offers management consultancy services for private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, including software solutions, product management, IT infrastructure, information and cyber security, ERP and CRM platform management, business process management, and digital transformation services. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Singapore.