Back to top

Image: Bigstock

5 Reasons to Add TransUnion (TRU) Stock to Your Portfolio

Read MoreHide Full Article

A wise investment decision involves buying well-performing stocks at the right time while selling those that are at risk. A rise in share price and strong fundamentals signal a stock’s bullish run.

TransUnion (TRU - Free Report) , a business-information services company, performed extremely well year to date and has the potential to carry the momentum forward. Therefore, if you have not taken advantage of the share price appreciation yet, it’s time you add the stock to your portfolio.

Let’s take a look at the factors that make the stock an attractive pick.

Share Price Performance

A glimpse of the company’s price trend reveals that the stock has had an impressive run on the bourse year to date. TransUnion has rallied 29.7% compared with the industry’s 15.6% upside.

Solid Rank

TransUnionhas a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Our research shows that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 offer the attractive investment opportunities for investors. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Northward Estimate Revisions

Nine estimates for the current year moved north over the past 60 days versus one southward revisions, reflecting analysts’ confidence in the company. Over the same period, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 climbed 5.2%.

Positive Earnings Surprise History

TransUnion has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company outpaced the consensus mark in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average beat of 6.2%.

Solid Prospects

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 earnings is pegged at $2.42, reflecting year-over-year growth of 29.4%. Moreover, earnings are expected to register 12.4% growth in 2019. The stock has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 10%.

Key Growth Drivers

TransUnion’s addressable market includes the burgeoning Big Data and analytics market, which is expanding at a rapid pace.

Numerous underlying trends that support growth of this market include the creation of massive amounts of data; advances in technology and analytics that allow data to be processed more swiftly and efficiently; and mounting demand for these business insights across industries and geographies.

TransUnion has leveraged its next-generation technology to strengthen its analytics capabilities and further expanded database, in a bid to capitalize on the immense potential of this market.

The company’s gigantic treasure trove of data is helping it to sustain competitive advantage and protect market share. Currently, TransUnion has more than 50 petabytes of data, growing at an average of over 25% annually since 2010. Acquiring or building such data involves huge costs, thereby making it extremely difficult for a new company to build the contacts and data that TransUnion already has.

Also, the company has an attractive business model with highly recurring and diversified revenue streams, significant operating leverage, low capital requirements, and strong and stable cash flows. In fact, the inherent nature and significance of its solutions in customers’ decision-making endow the company with high customer retention and revenue visibility.

Currently, TransUnion deals with eight of the 10 largest U.S. banks, top five credit card issuers, the biggest 25 auto lenders, 14 of the 15 largest auto insurance carriers, and thousands of healthcare providers as well as federal, state and local government agencies.

TransUnion Revenue (TTM)

We remain optimistic about the company’s acquisition of Callcredit Information Group — the second-largest and fast-growing consumer credit bureau in the U.K. This buyout should help TransUnion boost its international expansion strategy and contribute significantly to its top- and bottom-line growth in the long term.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader Business Services sector include Mastercard Inc. (MA - Free Report) , WEX Inc. (WEX - Free Report) and FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. . While Mastercard and WEX sport a Zacks Rank #1, FLEETCOR Technologies carries a Zacks Rank #2.

The long-term expected earnings per share growth rate for Mastercard, FLEETCOR Technologies and WEX is 19%, 16.5% and 14.3%, respectively.

Wall Street’s Next Amazon

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

Click for details >>


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Mastercard Incorporated (MA) - free report >>

WEX Inc. (WEX) - free report >>

TransUnion (TRU) - free report >>

Published in