DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust (KSM) Competitors

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund (NYSE:PFO) and DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust (NYSE:KSM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and community ranking.

Is PFO or KSM more profitable?

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in PFO or KSM?

12.9% of Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.8% of DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust 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.

Does the media favor PFO or KSM?

In the previous week, Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund had 1 more articles in the media than DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund and 2 mentions for DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust. DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund's score of 0.01 indicating that Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, PFO or KSM?

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Is PFO or KSM a better dividend stock?

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.55 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.33 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PFO or KSM?

DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust received 85 more outperform votes than Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund when rated by MarketBeat users.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	N/A	N/A
DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust	Outperform Votes 85 66.93%	Underperform Votes 42 33.07%

Do analysts prefer PFO or KSM?

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A
DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Which has more risk & volatility, PFO or KSM?

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income Opportunity Fund beats DWS Strategic Municipal Income Trust on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.