Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) Competitors

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (LON:ASL) and Polar Capital Technology Trust (LON:PCT) are both financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, community ranking, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Is ASL or PCT more profitable?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a net margin of 112.81% compared to Polar Capital Technology Trust's net margin of 96.56%. Polar Capital Technology Trust's return on equity of 30.54% beat Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	112.81%	18.22%	11.67%
Polar Capital Technology Trust	96.56%	30.54%	20.70%

Does the media favor ASL or PCT?

In the previous week, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust had 1 more articles in the media than Polar Capital Technology Trust. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust and 0 mentions for Polar Capital Technology Trust. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat Polar Capital Technology Trust's score of 0.00 indicating that Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Very Positive
Polar Capital Technology Trust	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, ASL or PCT?

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, Polar Capital Technology Trust has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, ASL or PCT?

Polar Capital Technology Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. Polar Capital Technology Trust 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	£226.05M	5.50	£255.01M	£304.31	4.90
Polar Capital Technology Trust	£1.24B	3.18	£1.20B	£101.86	3.30

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ASL or PCT?

52.3% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.2% of Polar Capital Technology Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Polar Capital Technology Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ASL or PCT?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust and Polar Capital Technology Trust both received 83 outperform votes by MarketBeat users. However, 72.81% of users gave Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust an outperform vote while only 64.34% of users gave Polar Capital Technology Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Outperform Votes 83 72.81%	Underperform Votes 31 27.19%
Polar Capital Technology Trust	Outperform Votes 83 64.34%	Underperform Votes 46 35.66%

Summary

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust beats Polar Capital Technology Trust on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.