Compass Group (CPG) Competitors

Compass Group (LON:CPG) and Diploma (LON:DPLM) are both personal services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Which has more risk & volatility, CPG or DPLM?

Compass Group has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Diploma has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate CPG or DPLM?

Compass Group currently has a consensus price target of GBX 2,870, indicating a potential upside of 13.57%. Diploma has a consensus price target of GBX 5,365, indicating a potential upside of 1.61%. Given Compass Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Compass Group is more favorable than Diploma.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Diploma	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of CPG or DPLM?

68.2% of Compass Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Diploma shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Compass Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Diploma shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CPG or DPLM a better dividend stock?

Compass Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Diploma pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Compass Group pays out 69.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Diploma pays out 47.7% 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.

Does the media prefer CPG or DPLM?

In the previous week, Compass Group had 5 more articles in the media than Diploma. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Compass Group and 1 mentions for Diploma. Diploma's average media sentiment score of 0.76 beat Compass Group's score of 0.44 indicating that Diploma is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Compass Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Diploma	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CPG or DPLM?

Compass Group has higher revenue and earnings than Diploma. Compass Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Diploma, 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
Compass Group	£43.83B	0.98	£1.35B	£0.86	2,941.79
Diploma	£1.45B	4.87	£115.40M	£1.24	4,247.79

Is CPG or DPLM more profitable?

Diploma has a net margin of 9.25% compared to Compass Group's net margin of 4.27%. Compass Group's return on equity of 22.69% beat Diploma's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Group	4.27%	22.69%	7.52%
Diploma	9.25%	13.18%	8.32%

Summary

Compass Group and Diploma tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.