ABM vs COMP: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: ABM is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ABM and COMP share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ABM and COMP exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

ABM Industries Incorporated (NYSE: ABM) sells building services under contract. It runs five reportable segments: Business & Industry, the commercial real estate portfolio and the largest at ~$2.08 billion of revenue in the first half of fiscal 2026; Manufacturing & Distribution at ~$886 million; Aviation at ~$609 million; Education at ~$461 million; and Technical Solutions at ~$497 million. Cut the same revenue by what the work actually is, and janitorial alone accounted for ~$2.64 billion of the ~$4.53 billion first half, with operations and maintenance, energy solutions, parking and airport ground services making up the rest. The company began in 1909 as a San Francisco window washing business and today employs over ~100,000 people. Its fiscal year ends October 31, so its quarters run a month ahead of the calendar.

Full ABM guide

Compass, Inc. is a tech-enabled residential real estate company that operates an owned-brokerage model in the United States. It recruits real estate agents onto a proprietary software platform that handles marketing, client management, and transaction workflow, and it earns revenue primarily as a share of the sales commissions its agents generate when homes change hands. Because agents keep most of each commission under negotiated splits, Compass keeps only a thin slice of a very large revenue number, so its margins are structurally low and its results track the volume of home sales closely. The company has expanded into adjacent services such as title, escrow, and mortgage referrals to capture more of each transaction.

Full COMP guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ABM drivers: Technical Solutions is where the growth is; Aviation is ramping on new contracts.
• COMP drivers: Scale and market leadership; Improving profitability.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Business & Industry, at nearly half of revenue, was essentially flat in the April quarter as client exits offset international wins, so the largest piece of ABM is not currently growing. For COMP, compass is highly exposed to the housing cycle: when mortgage rates rise or home sales slow, commission revenue falls quickly while many costs remain.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ABM if you believe its drivers more; COMP if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ABM and COMP guides.

ABM. The two multiples tell different stories and both are real. Trailing GAAP earnings of ~$2.60 put the stock near ~18x, while the midpoint of company guidance near ~$4.00 puts it closer to ~12x, and the difference is acquisition amortization, restructuring charges and other items ABM excludes from its adjusted figures. Adjusted EBITDA was ~$131.7 million in the April quarter versus ~$125.9 million a year earlier, so enterprise value including the ~$1.9 billion of debt sits at roughly ~9x annualized adjusted EBITDA.

COMP. A residential brokerage like Compass reports a very large revenue number, but most of each commission is paid out to agents, so the figure to watch is adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow rather than top-line growth alone. The business is highly cyclical: transaction volume, and therefore revenue, swings with mortgage rates and home-sale activity, so a strong or weak quarter often reflects the housing market more than company-specific execution. Because margins are thin and GAAP results can flip between small profits and losses depending on stock-based compensation and merger costs, investors typically look at agent count, market share, EBITDA margin trend, and cash generation across a full cycle.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): ABM shows revenue (ttm) ~$9.05 billion, net income (ttm) ~$158 million, a ~1.7% net margin, diluted eps (ttm, gaap) ~$2.60, fy2026 adjusted eps guidance ~$3.85 to ~$4.15; COMP shows revenue (fy2025) ~$6.96 billion (+23.7% YoY), principal agents ~21,000 (+~19% YoY), market share (q3 2025) ~5.6% (pre-Anywhere), adjusted ebitda (fy2025) ~$293 million (~4.2% margin).

ABM and COMP are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ABM and COMP exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.