abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust (AUSC) Competitors

JTC (LON:JTC) and abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust (LON:AUSC) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, JTC or AUSC?

abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than JTC. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than JTC, 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
JTC	£291.42M	4.89	£29.99M	£17.83	47.51
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	£54.96M	6.48	£49.86M	£73.87	7.15

Which has more risk and volatility, JTC or AUSC?

JTC has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is JTC or AUSC a better dividend stock?

JTC pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 11 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. JTC pays out 67.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust pays out 14.9% 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. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in JTC or AUSC?

74.1% of JTC shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.0% of abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.2% of JTC shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor JTC or AUSC?

In the previous week, JTC had 7 more articles in the media than abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for JTC and 0 mentions for abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust. JTC's average media sentiment score of 0.27 beat abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust's score of 0.00 indicating that JTC is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
JTC	Neutral
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	Neutral

Do analysts prefer JTC or AUSC?

JTC currently has a consensus target price of GBX 1,400, suggesting a potential upside of 65.25%. Given JTC's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe JTC is more favorable than abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JTC	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is JTC or AUSC more profitable?

abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust has a net margin of 90.72% compared to JTC's net margin of 10.29%. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust's return on equity of 13.68% beat JTC's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JTC	10.29%	5.70%	4.96%
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	90.72%	13.68%	-4.68%

Summary

JTC beats abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.