City of London (CTY) Competitors

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

Is DPLM or CTY more profitable?

City of London has a net margin of 95.77% compared to Diploma's net margin of 9.25%. City of London's return on equity of 14.45% beat Diploma's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Diploma	9.25%	13.18%	8.32%
City of London	95.77%	14.45%	4.00%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in DPLM or CTY?

79.5% of Diploma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.7% of City of London shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Diploma shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of City of London shares are owned 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.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, DPLM or CTY?

City of London has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Diploma. City of London 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
Diploma	£1.45B	4.99	£115.40M	£1.24	4,350.75
City of London	£222.11M	11.10	£294.08M	£0.44	1,125.79

Does the media prefer DPLM or CTY?

In the previous week, City of London had 12 more articles in the media than Diploma. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for City of London and 1 mentions for Diploma. Diploma's average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat City of London's score of 0.24 indicating that Diploma is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Diploma	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
City of London	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts recommend DPLM or CTY?

Diploma presently has a consensus price target of GBX 5,238, indicating a potential downside of 3.14%. Given Diploma's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Diploma is more favorable than City of London.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Diploma	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
City of London	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is DPLM or CTY a better dividend stock?

Diploma pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. City of London pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Diploma pays out 47.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. City of London pays out 47.1% 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. City of London is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk & volatility, DPLM or CTY?

Diploma has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, City of London has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Diploma beats City of London on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.