Critical Analysis: Atlantic International (NASDAQ:ATLN) and TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI)

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) and Atlantic International (NASDAQ:ATLN) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for TrueBlue and Atlantic International, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TrueBlue	0	0	2	0	3.00
Atlantic International	0	0	0	0	0.00

TrueBlue presently has a consensus price target of $11.50, indicating a potential upside of 81.56%. Given TrueBlue’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe TrueBlue is more favorable than Atlantic International.

Risk and Volatility

TrueBlue has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic International has a beta of 1.76, suggesting that its share price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares TrueBlue and Atlantic International”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TrueBlue	$1.91 billion	0.10	-$14.17 million	($3.84)	-1.65
Atlantic International	$80,000.00	1,448.08	-$5.63 million	($8.24)	-0.28

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

Profitability

This table compares TrueBlue and Atlantic International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TrueBlue	-6.97%	-2.69%	-1.32%
Atlantic International	N/A	-298.20%	-42.32%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.2% of TrueBlue shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of TrueBlue shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.3% of Atlantic International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

TrueBlue beats Atlantic International on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TrueBlue

TrueBlue, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides specialized workforce solutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Puerto Rico. It operates through three segments: PeopleReady, PeopleManagement, and PeopleScout. The company PeopleReady segment provides general, industrial, and skilled trade contingent staffing services for construction, transportation, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and renewable energy industries. The PeopleManagement segment offers contingent, on-site industrial staffing, and commercial driver services, which includes on-site management and recruitment for the contingent industrial workforce of manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution facilities; and recruitment and management of contingent and dedicated commercial drivers to the transportation and distribution industries under the Staff Management, SIMOS Insourcing Solutions, and Centerline Drivers brands. The company PeopleScout segment provides recruitment process outsourcing, talent advisory services, and managed service provider solutions including sourcing, screening, hiring, and onboarding services; operates Affinix, a technology platform for sourcing, screening, and delivering a permanent workforce to its clients; talent advisory services, such as employer branding, recruitment marketing, talent insights, diversity, equity and inclusion consulting, candidate assessment, and talent acquisition strategy consulting services; and contingent labor programs including vendor selection, performance management, compliance monitoring, and risk management. TrueBlue, Inc. was formerly known as Labor Ready, Inc. and changed its name to TrueBlue, Inc. in December 2007. The company was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.

About Atlantic International

Atlantic International Corp. engages in the design, development, and manufacture of genetic analysis technologies. Its services include RNA sequencing and DNA sequencing. The company was founded by William C. St. Laurent and Daniel R. Jones in 2013 and is headquartered in Billercia, MA.