The increased adoption and success of the work-from-home trend are enabling the Zacks Business – Information Services industry to address the demand surge for services that ensure risk mitigation, lowering cost and productivity improvement.
The rising adoption of technology is helping companies like S&P Global Inc. SPGI, Verisk Analytics, Inc. VRSK and Intertek Group plc IKTSY provide digitally-transformed, bespoke and value-added services.
About the Industry
The Zacks Business – Information Services industry comprises companies that offer a range of services, including software, data, risks, research, information and analytics solutions. These companies operate in a dynamic business environment characterized by evolving customer behavior, preferences and demographics. The industry's key focus is channeling money and efforts toward more effective operational components, such as technology, digital transformation and data-driven decision-making, to identify demand sources and target end markets. Prominent players include ratings, benchmarks, analytics, data provider — S&P Global, and the provider of data analytics solutions — Verisk Analytics.
What's Shaping the Future of the Information Industry?
Positive Demand Environment to Persist: The industry is mature and has witnessed a progressively growing business environment in the past few years. Revenues, income and free cash flows witnessed healthy growth during the post-pandemic economic improvement and are likely to grow in the long term.
Rising Demand for Customer-Centric Solutions: The pandemic sparked the rise in the work-from-home trend, which resulted in a surge in demand for solutions that ensure risk mitigation, cost reduction and productivity enhancement. These, in turn, have opened more business opportunities for industry players. These companies are now changing their business strategies to cater to more customer-centric solutions.
Surge in Technology Adoption: Digital transformation, automation in assembling and the use of big data in improving business information will likely fuel the industry’s growth in the upcoming days. Companies are shifting from conventional data solutions to technical and domain-specific expertise, data analytics solutions, financial consultancy and operational consultancy services.
Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Encouraging Near-Term Prospects
The Business – Information Services industry is housed within the broader Zacks Business Services sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #73, which places it in the top 29% of 249 Zacks industries.
The group’s Industry Rank, which is the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates underperformance in the near term. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than two to one.
Before we present a few stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let us look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and current valuation.
Industry Underperforms S&P 500 & Sector
Over the past year, the Zacks Business – Information Services industry has underperformed the Zacks Business Services sector and the S&P 500 Composite.
The industry has risen 27.4% compared with the S&P 500 Composite and the broader sector’s growth of 38.1% and 38.6%, respectively, in the said time frame.
One-Year Price Performance
Industry's Current Valuation
On the basis of the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), which is commonly used for valuing business information services stocks, the industry is currently trading at 29.59X compared with the S&P 500’s 22.66X and the sector’s 26.66X.
Over the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 30.39X and as low as 26.95X, with a median of 29.08X, as the charts below show.
Price to Forward 12 Months P/E Ratio
3 Business Information Service Stocks to Consider
We have presented three stocks that are poised to grow in the near term.
Verisk: This provider of data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets is riding on its improved go-to-market approach, which enhances and intensifies its client strategies. VRSK is further strengthening its products and solutions built on proprietary data sets. It is also improving those as the company scales to innovate and invest.
VRSK is witnessing an improvement in subscription revenues with contributions in both underwriting and claims businesses. Strength in the company’s data and solutions, as well as the ability to innovate via data improvement and the combination of data sets, are driving subscription revenues. Margin expansion is riding on strong revenue growth, cost discipline and global talent optimization initiatives.
Verisk currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 1.2% to $6.55 in the past 90 days. The stock has risen 20.2% in the past year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
S&P Global: This provider of credit rating, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions continuously invests in innovation, mainly around generative AI and SPGI’s strategic initiatives. The company is optimizing its product portfolio to create customer value and increase the same for shareholders.
SPGI is witnessing a demand surge for its core products on desktop, alternative data from its market data valuations and analytics product suite. A solid subscription performance is driving the company’s RatingsXpress across North America, along with rising use cases from content externalization and digitization. SPGI is observing growth in transaction revenues due to strong activity in investment-grade and high-yield bonds. Healthy trading volumes across the key global trading services sectors drive advisory and transaction service revenues.
S&P Global currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS has risen 4.2% in the past 90 days to $14.52. The stock has gained 29.5% in the past year.
Intertek: This quality assurance solutions provider is scaling up its portfolio in high-growth and high-margin sectors on the back of the JLA, CEA, PlayerLync and Base Met Labs acquisitions. The company is benefiting from its revenue mix, pricing, fixed cost leverage linked to growth, productivity enhancements and restructuring program while investing in its assurance, testing, inspection and certification (AITC) service capabilities for growth.
IKTSY’s global footprint and capital-light business model make it agile and allow it to move swiftly to build additional AITC capability for its clients in the existing or new markets.
Intertek currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 EPS has been revised 2.3% upward in the past 90 days to $3.03. The stock has gained 30% in the past year.
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