Head-To-Head Review: Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) & Zhihu (NYSE:ZH)

Zhihu (NYSE:ZH) and Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Zhihu and Broadridge Financial Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zhihu	0	0	1	0	3.00
Broadridge Financial Solutions	0	5	2	0	2.29

Zhihu presently has a consensus target price of $4.70, suggesting a potential downside of 10.90%. Broadridge Financial Solutions has a consensus target price of $239.17, suggesting a potential downside of 1.29%. Given Broadridge Financial Solutions’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Broadridge Financial Solutions is more favorable than Zhihu.

Risk & Volatility

Zhihu has a beta of 0.2, meaning that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Broadridge Financial Solutions has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

28.9% of Zhihu shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Broadridge Financial Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.6% of Zhihu shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Broadridge Financial Solutions shares are owned by company 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Zhihu and Broadridge Financial Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zhihu	$3.88 billion	0.12	-$118.82 million	($0.56)	-9.42
Broadridge Financial Solutions	$6.68 billion	4.24	$698.10 million	$6.39	37.92

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

Profitability

This table compares Zhihu and Broadridge Financial Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zhihu	-9.28%	-8.01%	-5.65%
Broadridge Financial Solutions	11.36%	44.40%	12.04%

Summary

Broadridge Financial Solutions beats Zhihu on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Zhihu

Zhihu Inc. operates an online content community in the People’s Republic of China. Its community allows people to seek inspiration, find solutions, make decisions, and have fun. The company offers technology, business support, and consulting services; information transmission, software, and information technology services. It also offers information and marketing services; vocational training; and internet services, as well as holds audio-visual permit. Zhihu Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.

About Broadridge Financial Solutions

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions. It also offers ProxyEdge, an electronic proxy delivery and voting solution; data-driven solutions and an end-to-end platform for content management, composition, and omni-channel distribution of regulatory, marketing, and transactional information, as well as mutual fund trade processing services; solutions for public corporations and mutual funds; data and analytics solutions; SEC filing and capital markets transaction services; registrar, stock transfer, and record-keeping services; and omni-channel customer communications solutions, as well as operates Broadridge Communications Cloud platform that creates, delivers, and manages communications and customer engagement activities. Its Global Technology and Operations segment provides solutions that automate the front-to-back transaction lifecycle of equity, mutual fund, fixed income, foreign exchange and exchange-traded derivatives, order capture and execution, trade confirmation, margin, cash management, clearing and settlement, reference data management, reconciliations, securities financing and collateral management, asset servicing, compliance and regulatory reporting, portfolio accounting, and custody-related services. This segment also offers business process outsourcing services; technology solutions, such portfolio management, compliance, fee billing, and operational support solutions; and capital market and wealth and investment management solutions. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Lake Success, New York.