Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) Competitors

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (LON:ASL) and abrdn (LON:ABDN) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment, risk, earnings and profitability.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ASL or ABDN?

abrdn has higher revenue and earnings than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. abrdn is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	£68.05M	18.04	£255.01M	£0.80	1,903.45
abrdn	£1.68B	2.23	£316.36M	£0.17	1,199.48

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of ASL or ABDN?

13.1% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of abrdn shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of abrdn shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, ASL or ABDN?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, abrdn has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to ASL or ABDN?

In the previous week, abrdn had 5 more articles in the media than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for abrdn and 1 mentions for Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.68 beat abrdn's score of 0.49 indicating that Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
abrdn	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is ASL or ABDN more profitable?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a net margin of 112.81% compared to abrdn's net margin of 21.19%. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's return on equity of 18.22% beat abrdn's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	112.81%	18.22%	11.67%
abrdn	21.19%	6.46%	0.68%

Do analysts rate ASL or ABDN?

abrdn has a consensus price target of GBX 208.60, indicating a potential downside of 0.05%. Given abrdn's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe abrdn is more favorable than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
abrdn	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Is ASL or ABDN a better dividend stock?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. abrdn pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust pays out 54.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. abrdn pays out 83.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust and abrdn tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.