Leidos (LDOS) Competitors

Gartner (NYSE:IT) and Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, community ranking, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Is IT or LDOS more profitable?

Gartner has a net margin of 17.33% compared to Leidos' net margin of 7.37%. Gartner's return on equity of 118.27% beat Leidos' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gartner	17.33%	118.27%	11.93%
Leidos	7.37%	30.31%	10.39%

Which has more volatility & risk, IT or LDOS?

Gartner has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Leidos has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer IT or LDOS?

Gartner currently has a consensus price target of $550.75, indicating a potential upside of 6.66%. Leidos has a consensus price target of $179.07, indicating a potential upside of 15.39%. Given Leidos' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Leidos is more favorable than Gartner.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gartner	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
Leidos	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.64

Which has higher valuation and earnings, IT or LDOS?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gartner	$6.14B	6.49	$882.47M	$13.56	38.08
Leidos	$16.28B	1.27	$199M	$8.78	17.67

Does the media favor IT or LDOS?

In the previous week, Gartner had 19 more articles in the media than Leidos. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Gartner and 9 mentions for Leidos. Leidos' average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Gartner's score of 0.36 indicating that Leidos is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Gartner	10 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Leidos	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in IT or LDOS?

91.5% of Gartner shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of Leidos shares are held by institutional investors. 3.6% of Gartner shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Leidos shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in IT or LDOS?

Leidos received 200 more outperform votes than Gartner when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.47% of users gave Leidos an outperform vote while only 57.96% of users gave Gartner an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Gartner	Outperform Votes 466 57.96%	Underperform Votes 338 42.04%
Leidos	Outperform Votes 666 64.47%	Underperform Votes 367 35.53%

Summary

Gartner beats Leidos on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.