RELX vs MSA vs NIQ Stock Comparison

Relx, MSA Safety and NIQ Global Intelligence Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
RELX Relx Plc
$38.99 +16.4% 1M -16.4% 1Y
Market cap
$71.62B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
–
Analytics and BI Technology
2 wins
MSA MSA Safety Inc
$179.23 -1.8% 1M +7.5% 1Y
Market cap
$6.86B
P/E
21.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.95B
Div. yield
–
Power Tools Industrials
5 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

MSA Safety leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (MSA Safety 5, NIQ Global Intelligence 3, Relx 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionRELXMSANIQLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $71.62B $6.86B $5.87B RELX
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only — 21.9x -22.2x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 21.5x 19.2x 17.8x NIQ
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months — +6.5% +7.5% NIQ
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — 16.1% -6.1% MSA
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 15.9% 2.8% MSA
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 0.8x 4.0x MSA
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -16.4% +7.5% +43.2% NIQ
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +4.6%/yr +3.2%/yr — RELX
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 35.3% 25.5% 67.3% MSA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers — 78/100 54/100 MSA

Percentile Scorecard

RELXMSANIQ

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisRELXMSANIQ
Valuation – 58 #86 of 203 73 #28 of 101
Growth – 86 #27 of 188 72 #28 of 97
Profitability – 97 #6 of 183 46 #51 of 94
Financial Health 18 #89 of 108 76 #54 of 217 23 #83 of 108
Shareholder Returns 52 #31 of 64 74 #40 of 153 –
Overall – 78 54
  • RELX ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications
  • MSA ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • NIQ ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodRELXMSANIQSPY
1 month +16.4%-1.8%+11.0% -0.2%
3 months +3.3%-0.3%+69.3% +3.9%
6 months +8.3%+7.2%+79.4% +8.2%
Year to date -3.5%+11.9%+20.1% +12.9%
1 year -16.4%+7.5%+43.2% +12.3%
3 years +14.4%+13.7%— +87.4%
3 years, per year +4.6%+4.4%— +23.3%
5 years +25.2%+16.9%— +67.9%
5 years, per year +4.6%+3.2%— +10.9%
10 years +116.5%+224.9%— +261.1%
10 years, per year +8.0%+12.5%— +13.7%

Risk

MeasureRELXMSANIQSPY
Volatility, 1Y 35.3%25.5%67.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 36.1%24.1%62.8% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.190.810.44 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.460.290.64 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -50.2%-34.9%-59.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -16.4%-11.7%-1.1% -1.2%
52-week high $46.64$203.08$20.04 $779.14
52-week low $27.73$152.94$7.97 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleRELXMSANIQ
P/E now vs peer median —median 28.3x 22.0xmedian 25.2x -22.1xmedian 28.3x
P/S now vs peer median —median 2.8x 3.6xmedian 1.9x 1.3xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 17.3x 15.0xmedian 14.0x 11.3xmedian 17.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median —median 15.8x 19.5xmedian 21.7x —median 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 42.6xmedian 3.2x 4.9xmedian 2.3x 5.1xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median —median 0.85 0.12median 1.32 —median 0.85

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsRELXMSANIQ
Revenue – $1.95B $4.36B
Gross profit – $925.88M $2.43B
Operating income – $413.17M $135.00M
Net income – $314.01M -$264.00M
Free cash flow – $354.30M –
R&D – $68.19M –
EPS (diluted) – $8.11 $-0.89
Cash & equivalents $291.59M $200.06M $416.60M
Total debt $3.11B $599.74M $3.55B
Shares (diluted) 1.84B 38.70M 295.06M
Enterprise value $70.72B $6.15B $4.22B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricRELXMSANIQ
P/E – 22.0x -22.1x
P/FCF – 19.5x –
P/Operating cash flow – 17.0x –
P/S – 3.6x 1.3x
P/B 42.6x 4.9x 5.1x
P/Tangible book -28.8x 6.2x -6.8x
EV/EBITDA – 15.0x 11.3x
EV/EBIT – 17.7x 66.5x
EV/Revenue – 3.8x 2.1x
EV/FCF – 20.7x –
EV/Operating cash flow – 18.0x –
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) – 0.12 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricRELXMSANIQ
Revenue growth (1Y) – 6.5% 7.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) – 5.2% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 8.2% 6.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 6.7% –
Operating income growth (1Y) – 10.8% 577.0%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – 34.5% –
Net income growth (1Y) – 13.4% 55.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) – 186.8% –
EPS growth (1Y) – 15.3% 62.2%
EPS CAGR (3Y) – 188.5% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – 26.3% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 96.0% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – 40.3% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 72.1% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricRELXMSANIQ
Gross margin – 47.6% 55.7%
EBITDA margin – 25.1% 18.2%
Operating margin – 21.2% 3.1%
Pretax margin – 21.1% -2.4%
Net margin – 16.1% -6.1%
FCF margin – 18.2% –
Operating cash flow margin – 20.9% –
Return on equity – 22.8% -21.5%
Return on assets – 12.2% -3.8%
Return on invested capital – 15.9% 2.8%
Return on capital employed – 18.0% 2.6%
Asset turnover – 0.8x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.3x –
Stock comp / revenue – 1.0% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricRELXMSANIQ
Debt / assets 15.6% 23.1% 52.5%
Debt / equity 1.9x 0.4x 3.1x
Net debt / EBITDA – 0.8x 4.0x
Debt / FCF – 1.7x –
Liabilities / assets 91.7% 46.1% 83.0%
Equity / assets 8.3% 53.9% 17.0%
Interest coverage – 12.7x –
Current ratio – 3.2x 1.1x
Quick ratio 0.4x 1.9x 1.0x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.7x 0.3x
Altman Z-score – 5.92 0.88

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricRELXMSANIQ
Dividend yield 2.3% 1.2% –
Net buyback yield – 1.8% –
Shareholder yield 2.3% 3.0% 0.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusRELXMSANIQ
Forward P/E 21.5xFY2026 19.2xFY2026 17.8xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $1.81FY2026 $9.33FY2026 $1.11FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +3.4%FY2026 +17.7%FY2026 +382.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +19.9% +3.4% +19.8%
Revenue, next fiscal year $13.79BFY2026 $1.98BFY2026 $4.21BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +5.4%FY2026 +5.2%FY2026 +0.2%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +0.4% +19.6% +18.6%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersRELXMSANIQ
Held by institutions 4.7% 91.0% 84.4%
Institutions holding 439 457 162
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.2% +3.0% +4.0%
Institutions buying 220 236 101
Institutions selling 157 147 51
Buyers to sellers 1.40 1.61 1.98

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

RELXMSANIQ
RELX 1.00 -0.01 0.40
MSA -0.01 1.00 0.00
NIQ 0.40 0.00 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, RELX, MSA and NIQ?

Relx (RELX) is the largest by market capitalisation: Relx (RELX) $71.62B, MSA Safety (MSA) $6.86B, NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) $5.87B.

Which company is growing faster?

NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: MSA Safety (MSA) +6.5%, NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) +7.5%.

Which company is more profitable?

MSA Safety (MSA) has the highest net margin (MSA Safety (MSA) 16.1%, NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) -6.1%). On return on invested capital, MSA Safety (MSA) leads (MSA Safety (MSA) 15.9%, NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) 2.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) returned the most: Relx (RELX) -16.4%, MSA Safety (MSA) +7.5%, NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) +43.2%. Over five years, Relx (RELX) compounded fastest (Relx (RELX) +4.6%/yr, MSA Safety (MSA) +3.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, MSA Safety (MSA) has been the steadiest (Relx (RELX) 35.3%, MSA Safety (MSA) 25.5%, NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ) 67.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, RELX, MSA and NIQ?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, MSA Safety (MSA) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.