The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) and VerifyMe (NASDAQ:VRMEW) Critical Review

VerifyMe (NASDAQ:VRMEW) and The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for VerifyMe and The GEO Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
VerifyMe	0	0	0	0	N/A
The GEO Group	0	0	2	0	3.00

The GEO Group has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.54%. Given The GEO Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe The GEO Group is more favorable than VerifyMe.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares VerifyMe and The GEO Group’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
VerifyMe	$25.31 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
The GEO Group	$2.41 billion	0.77	$107.32 million	$0.76	19.17

The GEO Group has higher revenue and earnings than VerifyMe.

Profitability

This table compares VerifyMe and The GEO Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
VerifyMe	N/A	N/A	N/A
The GEO Group	4.72%	9.43%	3.18%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.1% of The GEO Group shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of The GEO Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

The GEO Group beats VerifyMe on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About VerifyMe

VerifyMe, Inc., together with its subsidiary, PeriShip Global, LLC, operates as a technology solutions provider that specializes in products to connect brands with consumers and providing brands with end-to-end logistics management for their products. The company operates through two segments, VerifyMe Solutions and PeriShip Global Solutions. The VerifyMe Solutions segment offers technology solutions to connect brands with consumers allowing brand owners to gather business intelligence while engaging directly with their consumers. Its solutions provide brand protection and supply chain functions, such as counterfeit prevention, traceability, consumer engagement solutions, and authentication for labels, packaging, and products, as well as tamper-proof labels. The PeriShip Global Solutions segment offers predictive analytics for optimizing delivery of time and temperature sensitive perishable products. This segment's products include PeriTrack customer dashboard, an integrated web portal tool gives its customers an in-depth look at their shipping activities based on real-time data. It also provides call center, pre-transit, post-delivery, and weather/traffic services. The company has a strategic partnership with INX International Ink Company. The company was formerly known as LaserLock Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to VerifyMe, Inc. in July 2015. VerifyMe, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida.

About The GEO Group

The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO) engages in ownership, leasing, and management of secure facilities, processing centers, and community-based reentry facilities in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. The company also provides secure facility management services, including the provision of security, administrative, rehabilitation, education, and food services; reentry services, such as temporary housing, programming, employment assistance, and other services; electronic monitoring and supervision services; and transportation services; as well as designs, constructs, and finances new facilities through projects. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Boca Raton, Florida.