Contrasting CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) and Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB)

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) and Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CME Group and Dun & Bradstreet”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CME Group	$5.80 billion	14.11	$3.23 billion	$8.79	25.84
Dun & Bradstreet	$2.36 billion	2.05	-$47.00 million	($0.08)	-136.63

CME Group has higher revenue and earnings than Dun & Bradstreet. Dun & Bradstreet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CME Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.8% of CME Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Dun & Bradstreet shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of CME Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.4% of Dun & Bradstreet shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares CME Group and Dun & Bradstreet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CME Group	56.98%	12.82%	2.75%
Dun & Bradstreet	-1.42%	11.35%	4.25%

Dividends

CME Group pays an annual dividend of $4.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Dun & Bradstreet pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. CME Group pays out 52.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dun & Bradstreet pays out -250.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CME Group has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. CME Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

CME Group has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dun & Bradstreet has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for CME Group and Dun & Bradstreet, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CME Group	4	7	4	0	2.00
Dun & Bradstreet	0	4	3	1	2.63

CME Group currently has a consensus target price of $220.07, suggesting a potential downside of 3.11%. Dun & Bradstreet has a consensus target price of $13.85, suggesting a potential upside of 26.72%. Given Dun & Bradstreet’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dun & Bradstreet is more favorable than CME Group.

Summary

CME Group beats Dun & Bradstreet on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services. The company also provides clearing house services, including clearing, settling, and guaranteeing futures and options contracts, and cleared swaps products traded through its exchanges; and trade processing and risk mitigation services. In addition, the company offers a range of market data services, including real-time and historical data services. It serves professional traders, financial institutions, institutional and individual investors, corporations, manufacturers, producers, governments, and central banks. The company was formerly known as Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and changed its name to CME Group Inc. in July 2007. The company was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business-to-business data and analytics in North America and internationally. It offers finance and risk solutions, including D&B Finance Analytics, an online application that offers clients real time access to its information, comprehensive monitoring, and portfolio analysis; D&B Direct, an application programming interface (API) that delivers risk and financial data directly into enterprise applications for real-time credit decision-making; D&B Small Business, a suite of tools that allows SMBs to monitor and build their business credit file; D&B Enterprise Risk Assessment Manager, a solution for managing and automating credit decisioning and reporting; and D&B Risk Analytics, a subscription-based online application that offers clients real-time access to complete and up-to-date global information to mitigate supply chain risk, regulatory risk, and ESG assessment, as well as other related risks; Risk Guardian, a subscription-based online application that offers real-time access to Northern Europe information, monitoring, and portfolio analysis; and D&B Beneficial Ownership that offers risk intelligence on ultimate beneficial ownership. The company also provides sales and marketing solutions, including D&B Connect, a self-service data management platform; D&B Optimizer, an integrated data management solution; D&B Rev.Up ABX, an open and agnostic platform that aligns marketing and sales teams to deliver an optimal and coordinated buying; D&B Hoovers, a sales intelligence solution; D&B Audience Targeting, which helps clients to reach the right audiences with the right messages; D&B Visitor Intelligence that turns web visitors into leads; D&B Direct, an API-enabled data management solution; and InfoTorg, an online SaaS application that provides information services. Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1841 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.