AHT vs. EXPN, FERG, RR, RTO, BA, IAG, HLMA, MRO, ITRK, and SPX
Should you be buying Ashtead Group stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Ashtead Group include Experian (EXPN), Ferguson (FERG), Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (RR), Rentokil Initial (RTO), BAE Systems (BA), International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), Halma (HLMA), Melrose Industries (MRO), Intertek Group (ITRK), and Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX). These companies are all part of the "industrials" sector.
Experian (LON:EXPN) and Ashtead Group (LON:AHT) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings and risk.
In the previous week, Ashtead Group had 2 more articles in the media than Experian. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Ashtead Group and 2 mentions for Experian. Ashtead Group's average media sentiment score of 0.68 beat Experian's score of 0.61 indicating that Experian is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Experian presently has a consensus target price of GBX 3,394, indicating a potential upside of 4.62%. Ashtead Group has a consensus target price of GBX 4,709.38, indicating a potential downside of 19.39%. Given Ashtead Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Experian is more favorable than Ashtead Group.
Experian has a net margin of 15.20% compared to Experian's net margin of 15.17%. Ashtead Group's return on equity of 26.69% beat Experian's return on equity.
Experian has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ashtead Group has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.
58.1% of Experian shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.4% of Ashtead Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Experian shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Ashtead Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Ashtead Group has higher revenue and earnings than Experian. Ashtead Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Experian, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Experian pays an annual dividend of GBX 44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Ashtead Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Experian pays out 4,943.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ashtead Group pays out 2,739.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ashtead Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Ashtead Group received 40 more outperform votes than Experian when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.18% of users gave Ashtead Group an outperform vote while only 69.47% of users gave Experian an outperform vote.
Summary
Ashtead Group beats Experian on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AHT and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of LON and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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