BlackRock Smaller Companies (BRSC) Competitors

AJ Bell (LON:AJB) and BlackRock Smaller Companies (LON:BRSC) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AJB or BRSC?

49.5% of AJ Bell shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.6% of BlackRock Smaller Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.8% of AJ Bell shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of BlackRock Smaller Companies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer AJB or BRSC?

AJ Bell presently has a consensus target price of GBX 521.67, indicating a potential downside of 4.37%. Given AJ Bell's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AJ Bell is more favorable than BlackRock Smaller Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AJ Bell	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
BlackRock Smaller Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media refer more to AJB or BRSC?

In the previous week, AJ Bell had 3 more articles in the media than BlackRock Smaller Companies. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for AJ Bell and 0 mentions for BlackRock Smaller Companies. AJ Bell's average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat BlackRock Smaller Companies' score of 0.00 indicating that AJ Bell is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
AJ Bell	Neutral
BlackRock Smaller Companies	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, AJB or BRSC?

AJ Bell has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BlackRock Smaller Companies has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AJB or BRSC a better dividend stock?

AJ Bell pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. BlackRock Smaller Companies pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. AJ Bell pays out 57.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BlackRock Smaller Companies pays out -466.5% 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. BlackRock Smaller Companies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is AJB or BRSC more profitable?

BlackRock Smaller Companies has a net margin of 94.11% compared to AJ Bell's net margin of 33.14%. AJ Bell's return on equity of 42.30% beat BlackRock Smaller Companies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AJ Bell	33.14%	42.30%	36.07%
BlackRock Smaller Companies	94.11%	17.28%	-2.39%

Which has better earnings and valuation, AJB or BRSC?

BlackRock Smaller Companies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than AJ Bell. BlackRock Smaller Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AJ Bell, 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
AJ Bell	£291.42M	7.55	£81.11M	£0.22	2,526.63
BlackRock Smaller Companies	-£3.23M	-169.08	£120.17M	-£0.09	-14,603.00

Summary

AJ Bell beats BlackRock Smaller Companies on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.