Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. EXLS scored 80.6, INOD scored 83.7 — INOD leads.
Compare another set
EXLS
ExlService Holdings, Inc.
Information Technology Services · Quality-Growth
80.6
$36.79 · $5.6B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
3.1
INOD leads
INOD
Innodata Inc.
Information Technology Services · Quality-Growth
83.7
$62.04 · $2.1B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestEXLS23.3x
Fastest growthINOD+47.6%
Strongest balance sheetINOD0.02
Highest qualityINOD85 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueINOD-19%
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)
EXLS
stronger →← stronger
INOD
85
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
85
85
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
98
73
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
70
INOD is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
EXLS
INOD
$275mC
FCF
$184mC
+13.6%B+
Rev
+47.6%A
0.57C+
D/E
0.02A-
23.3xB+
P/E
48.1xC+
0.96B+
PEG
0.87B+
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
EXLS
INOD
4% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
19% below
~8%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~10%/yr
-8%
1-yr DCF upside
-4%
+4%
5-yr DCF upside
+23%
+25%
10-yr DCF upside
+73%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
EXLS
Why this score
Buying back stock
Durable high returns
INOD
Why this score
Durable high returns
Diluting shareholders
The companies
EXLSExlService Holdings, Inc.
Information Technology Services · $36.79 · beta 0.84
Why now
Information Technology Services · market cap $5.6b. 16% off the 52-week high of $43.88. Revenue growing +14%, comfortably above the S&P median. PEG 0.96 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 8 sell-side analysts rate this a Strong Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $44.63 (implying +21% upside).
Moat
ROE 26% — top-decile capital efficiency. Either pricing leverage, low capital intensity, or aggressive buybacks; the durability story depends on which. FCF converts 110% 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.
INODInnodata Inc.
Information Technology Services · $62.04 · beta 2.98
Why now
Information Technology Services · market cap $2.1b. Down 50% from 52-week high of $125.14 — deep drawdown territory. Revenue growing +48% — in hypergrowth territory. PEG 0.87 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 4 sell-side analysts publish a mean 1-yr target of $122.75 (implying +98% upside).
Moat
Net margin 15% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 38% — 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 cash released from working capital ($120m) — a release that doesn't repeat every year the way earnings can.
Risk
Down 50% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up. Beta 2.98 implies above-market volatility — position-size to the drawdowns this name will produce in a market correction, not to its bull-case return. Trailing P/E 48x sits well above the S&P median (~20x) — multiple compression is a real risk if revenue growth decelerates.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
The model favors EXLS (82.1) over INOD (77.7) primarily due to its significantly stronger Value pillar of 73 compared to INOD's 56, reflected in EXLS's B+ P/E grade versus INOD's C+. However, a contrarian might prefer INOD for its far superior revenue growth of +39.0% (A grade), though the model flags INOD for diluting shareholders.
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 EXLS and INOD diverge
On the headline score the gap is 3.1 points in favor of INOD. The widest single difference is Growth, where INOD leads by 12.9 points.
GrowthEXLS 85.0 · INOD 97.9INOD +12.9
ValueEXLS 72.6 · INOD 70.1level
QualityEXLS 84.7 · INOD 85.4level
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 INOD or EXLS the better stock?
INOD scores higher: INOD 83.7, EXLS 80.6 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 INOD and EXLS differ most?
The widest gap is growth, where INOD leads by 13 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. The other two pillars are close enough to call level, so this is the one place they genuinely separate.
How are INOD and EXLS 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.