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 better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Is PETS or COST a better dividend stock?

Pets at Home Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 13 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Costain Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 1 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Pets at Home Group pays out 79.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Costain Group pays out 8.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, 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	£1.41B	0.82	£75.43M	£16.45	15.31
Costain Group	£1.28B	0.31	£29.90M	£11.20	13.03

Do analysts recommend PETS or COST?

Pets at Home Group currently has a consensus price target of GBX 298.33, indicating a potential upside of 18.48%. Costain Group has a consensus price target of GBX 105, indicating a potential downside of 28.08%. Given Pets at Home Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Pets at Home Group is more favorable than Costain 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)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders & institutionals believe in PETS or COST?

72.8% of Pets at Home Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.7% of Costain Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Pets at Home Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of Costain Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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.

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%

Does the media prefer PETS or COST?

In the previous week, Costain Group had 1 more articles in the media than Pets at Home Group. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Costain Group and 1 mentions for Pets at Home Group. Pets at Home Group's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Costain Group's score of -0.38 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	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costain Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Pets at Home Group beats Costain Group on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.