Costain Group (COST) Competitors

Pets at Home Group (LON:PETS) and Costain Group (LON:COST) are both small-cap retail companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, PETS or COST?

Pets at Home Group has higher revenue and earnings than Costain Group. Costain Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pets at Home Group, 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
Pets at Home Group	£1.48B	0.68	£75.43M	£0.19	1,194.68
Costain Group	£1.14B	0.30	£29.90M	£0.12	1,097.39

Is PETS or COST more profitable?

Pets at Home Group has a net margin of 5.36% compared to Costain Group's net margin of 2.33%. Costain Group's return on equity of 13.56% beat Pets at Home Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pets at Home Group	5.36%	8.05%	4.66%
Costain Group	2.33%	13.56%	5.63%

Do analysts rate PETS or COST?

Pets at Home Group presently has a consensus target price of GBX 273.33, suggesting a potential upside of 21.70%. Costain Group has a consensus target price of GBX 162.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.76%. Given Costain Group's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Costain Group is more favorable than Pets at Home Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pets at Home Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Costain Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PETS or COST?

62.1% of Pets at Home Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.4% of Costain Group shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Pets at Home Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 48.0% of Costain Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer PETS or COST?

In the previous week, Costain Group had 2 more articles in the media than Pets at Home Group. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Costain Group and 2 mentions for Pets at Home Group. Pets at Home Group's average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Costain Group's score of 0.39 indicating that Pets at Home Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Pets at Home Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costain Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is PETS or COST a better dividend stock?

Pets at Home Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Costain Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Pets at Home Group pays out 69.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Costain Group pays out 20.9% 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.

Which has more risk & volatility, PETS or COST?

Pets at Home Group has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costain Group has a beta of 2.64, suggesting that its stock price is 164% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Pets at Home Group beats Costain Group on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.