abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust (AUSC) Competitors

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

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AUSC or JTC?

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

Does the media refer more to AUSC or JTC?

In the previous week, JTC had 4 more articles in the media than abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for JTC and 0 mentions for abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust. JTC's average media sentiment score of 0.32 beat abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust's score of 0.00 indicating that JTC is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Which has more volatility & risk, AUSC or JTC?

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

Is AUSC or JTC a better dividend stock?

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 an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust pays out 14.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. JTC pays out 67.3% 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 analysts prefer AUSC or JTC?

JTC has a consensus target price of GBX 1,400, suggesting a potential upside of 64.51%. Given JTC's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, 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
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
JTC	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, AUSC or JTC?

abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	£54.96M	6.45	£49.86M	£73.87	7.11
JTC	£291.42M	4.91	£29.99M	£17.83	47.73

Is AUSC or JTC 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
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	90.72%	13.68%	-4.68%
JTC	10.29%	5.70%	4.96%

Summary

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