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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, COST or PETS?

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
Costain Group	£1.14B	0.30	£29.90M	£0.12	1,097.39
Pets at Home Group	£1.48B	0.68	£75.43M	£0.19	1,194.68

Which has more volatility and risk, COST or PETS?

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

Do analysts prefer COST or PETS?

Costain Group currently has a consensus target price of GBX 162.50, suggesting a potential upside of 28.76%. Pets at Home Group has a consensus target price of GBX 273.33, suggesting a potential upside of 21.70%. Given Costain Group's higher probable upside, equities 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
Costain Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Pets at Home Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Do insiders & 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 hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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%

Does the media favor COST or PETS?

In the previous week, Costain Group had 3 more articles in the media than Pets at Home Group. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Costain Group and 1 mentions for Pets at Home Group. Pets at Home Group's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat Costain Group's score of 0.39 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	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Pets at Home Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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.

Summary

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