SLM vs. NNI, CACC, OMF, ENVA, OCSL, KRG, RDN, WTM, EPRT, and THG
Should you be buying SLM stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of SLM include Nelnet (NNI), Credit Acceptance (CACC), OneMain (OMF), Enova International (ENVA), Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL), Kite Realty Group Trust (KRG), Radian Group (RDN), White Mountains Insurance Group (WTM), Essential Properties Realty Trust (EPRT), and The Hanover Insurance Group (THG). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) and SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, community ranking, profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.
33.5% of Nelnet shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of SLM shares are owned by institutional investors. 50.1% of Nelnet shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of SLM shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Nelnet currently has a consensus price target of $96.00, suggesting a potential downside of 13.25%. SLM has a consensus price target of $21.32, suggesting a potential upside of 1.37%. Given Nelnet's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SLM is more favorable than Nelnet.
SLM has a net margin of 25.15% compared to SLM's net margin of 6.54%. Nelnet's return on equity of 45.65% beat SLM's return on equity.
In the previous week, Nelnet had 6 more articles in the media than SLM. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Nelnet and 12 mentions for SLM. Nelnet's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat SLM's score of 0.55 indicating that SLM is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
SLM has higher revenue and earnings than Nelnet. SLM is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nelnet, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Nelnet pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. SLM pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Nelnet pays out 30.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SLM pays out 13.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Nelnet has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. SLM is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
SLM received 216 more outperform votes than Nelnet when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.16% of users gave SLM an outperform vote while only 66.84% of users gave Nelnet an outperform vote.
Nelnet has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SLM has a beta of 1.17, indicating that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
SLM beats Nelnet on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get SLM News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for SLM and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SLM and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ 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.
Skip Chart
Related Companies and Tools