Costain Group (COST) Competitors

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

Is COST or PETS 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
Costain Group	2.33%	13.56%	5.63%
Pets at Home Group	5.36%	8.05%	4.66%

Which has more volatility & risk, COST or PETS?

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

Is COST or PETS a better dividend stock?

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

Do analysts recommend COST or PETS?

Costain Group currently has a consensus target price of GBX 168.33, suggesting a potential upside of 12.22%. Pets at Home Group has a consensus target price of GBX 232.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7.84%. Given Costain Group's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Costain Group is more favorable than Pets at Home Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costain Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Pets at Home Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Which has higher valuation and earnings, COST or PETS?

Pets at Home Group has higher revenue and earnings than Costain Group. Pets at Home Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costain 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
Costain Group	£1.14B	0.35	£29.90M	£0.12	1,304.35
Pets at Home Group	£1.48B	0.65	£75.43M	£0.19	1,146.81

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in COST or PETS?

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

Does the media prefer COST or PETS?

In the previous week, Costain Group had 7 more articles in the media than Pets at Home Group. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Costain Group and 6 mentions for Pets at Home Group. Pets at Home Group's average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat Costain Group's score of 0.57 indicating that Pets at Home Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Costain Group	4 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Pets at Home Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Pets at Home Group beats Costain Group on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.