Analyzing Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) and TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) and Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares TransUnion and Planet Labs PBC’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TransUnion	15.08%	16.29%	6.67%
Planet Labs PBC	-95.13%	-93.11%	-29.17%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for TransUnion and Planet Labs PBC, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TransUnion	0	6	10	0	2.62
Planet Labs PBC	1	6	5	1	2.46

TransUnion currently has a consensus target price of $94.38, indicating a potential upside of 30.13%. Planet Labs PBC has a consensus target price of $32.77, indicating a potential upside of 99.79%. Given Planet Labs PBC’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Planet Labs PBC is more favorable than TransUnion.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares TransUnion and Planet Labs PBC”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TransUnion	$4.58 billion	3.04	$455.40 million	$3.79	19.13
Planet Labs PBC	$307.73 million	19.40	-$246.86 million	($1.10)	-14.91

TransUnion has higher revenue and earnings than Planet Labs PBC. Planet Labs PBC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TransUnion, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.7% of Planet Labs PBC shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of TransUnion shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.4% of Planet Labs PBC shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

TransUnion has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Planet Labs PBC has a beta of 2.1, indicating that its share price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TransUnion beats Planet Labs PBC on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TransUnion

TransUnion operates as a global consumer credit reporting agency that provides risk and information solutions. The company operates through U.S. Markets, International, and Consumer Interactive segments. The U.S. Markets segment provides consumer reports, actionable insights, and analytic services to businesses, which uses its services to acquire new customers; assess consumer ability to pay for services; identify cross-selling opportunities; measure and manage debt portfolio risk; collect debt; verify consumer identities; and mitigate fraud risk. This segment serves various industry vertical markets, including financial services, technology, commerce and communications, insurance, media, services and collections, tenant and employment, and public sectors. The International segment offers credit reports, analytics, technology solutions, and other value-added risk management services; consumer services, which help consumers to manage their personal finances; consumer credit reporting, insurance and auto information solutions, and commercial credit information services. It serves customers in financial services, retail credit, insurance, automotive, collections, public sector, and communications industries through direct and indirect channels. The company was formerly known as TransUnion Holding Company, Inc. and changed its name to TransUnion in March 2015. TransUnion was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Planet Labs PBC

Planet Labs PBC engages in the design, construction, and launch constellations of satellites with the intent of providing high cadence geospatial data delivered to customers through an online platform worldwide. The company’s platform offers planet monitoring, basemap, tasking, apps, and application programming interfaces, as well as analytics and planetary variables. It serves agriculture, mapping, energy, forestry, finance and insurance companies, and government agencies. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.