Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. BCO scored 62.4, MSA scored 69.8 — MSA leads.
Compare another set
BCO
The Brink's Company
Security & Protection Services · Quality-Growth
62.4
$103.40 · $4.3B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
7.4
MSA leads
MSA
MSA Safety Incorporated
Security & Protection Services · Quality-Growth
69.8
$180.71 · $7.0B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestMSA22.5x
Fastest growthMSA+6.5%
Highest qualityMSA81 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueBCO-35%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
BCO
stronger →← stronger
MSA
64
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
81
63
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
66
60
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
63
MSA is stronger on 3 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
BCO
MSA
$394mC
FCF
$354mC
+5.0%C+
Rev
+6.5%C+
—
D/E
0.46B+
24.0xB
P/E
22.5xB+
1.16B+
PEG
0.99B+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
BCO
MSA
35% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
16% above
~-5%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~9%/yr
+46%
1-yr DCF upside
-17%
+53%
5-yr DCF upside
-13%
+63%
10-yr DCF upside
-8%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Security & Protection Services · market cap $4.3b. Down 24% from 52-week high of $136.37 — deep drawdown territory. 3 sell-side analysts rate this a Strong Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $146.33 (implying +42% upside).
Moat
ROE 46% — top-decile capital efficiency. Either pricing leverage, low capital intensity, or aggressive buybacks; the durability story depends on which. Free cash flow runs well ahead of reported net income, mostly because of depreciation and amortization ($319m) — non-cash charges that hold down reported earnings while cash generation stays strong.
Risk
Net margin 3.3% is thin — operating leverage cuts both ways; input-cost inflation or pricing pressure hits the bottom line first.
Security & Protection Services · market cap $7.0b. 14% off the 52-week high of $208.92. PEG 0.99 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 7 sell-side analysts publish a mean 1-yr target of $209.14 (implying +16% upside).
Moat
Net margin 16% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 22% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. FCF converts 113% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Value re-rating depends on a catalyst. Without one — analyst day, divestiture, margin recovery, capital return — the stock can stay cheap on these multiples for years.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
MSA leads BCO by 6.2 points (74.3 to 68.1), its sharpest advantage coming in P/E (grade B+). A contrarian could still prefer BCO, which trades about 45% below our DCF fair value — a margin of safety the score doesn't reward. Note they play different roles — BCO screens as growth, MSA screens as value — so the model rewards different traits for each.
Our AI analyst is busy right now, so this verdict is drawn directly from the pillars, grades and DCF above.
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where BCO and MSA diverge
On the headline score the gap is 7.4 points in favor of MSA. The widest single difference is Quality, where MSA leads by 17.1 points.
QualityBCO 64.1 · MSA 81.2MSA +17.1
GrowthBCO 62.6 · MSA 66.1MSA +3.5
ValueBCO 60.5 · MSA 63.5MSA +3.0
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is MSA or BCO the better stock?
MSA scores higher: MSA 69.8, BCO 62.4 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do MSA and BCO differ most?
The widest gap is quality, where MSA leads by 17 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. MSA leads all three pillars, so the gap is broad rather than a single-measure difference.
How are MSA and BCO scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.