The European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT) Competitors

The European Smaller Companies Trust (LON:ESCT) and 3i Infrastructure (LON:3IN) are both financial services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, risk, community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, ESCT or 3IN?

3i Infrastructure has higher revenue and earnings than The European Smaller Companies Trust. The European Smaller Companies Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than 3i Infrastructure, 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
The European Smaller Companies Trust	£96.24M	8.08	£83.79M	£21.21	9.30
3i Infrastructure	£374M	7.90	£347M	£0.38	843.42

Does the media favor ESCT or 3IN?

In the previous week, The European Smaller Companies Trust and The European Smaller Companies Trust both had 1 articles in the media. The European Smaller Companies Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat 3i Infrastructure's score of -0.09 indicating that The European Smaller Companies Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
The European Smaller Companies Trust	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
3i Infrastructure	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is ESCT or 3IN more profitable?

3i Infrastructure has a net margin of 92.78% compared to The European Smaller Companies Trust's net margin of 87.06%. The European Smaller Companies Trust's return on equity of 10.91% beat 3i Infrastructure's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
The European Smaller Companies Trust	87.06%	10.91%	6.62%
3i Infrastructure	92.78%	10.77%	4.83%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ESCT or 3IN?

3i Infrastructure received 184 more outperform votes than The European Smaller Companies Trust when rated by MarketBeat users.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
The European Smaller Companies Trust	N/A	N/A
3i Infrastructure	Outperform Votes 184 65.95%	Underperform Votes 95 34.05%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in ESCT or 3IN?

34.1% of The European Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.1% of 3i Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of The European Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of 3i Infrastructure shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is ESCT or 3IN a better dividend stock?

The European Smaller Companies Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. 3i Infrastructure pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. The European Smaller Companies Trust pays out 23.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 3i Infrastructure pays out 3,157.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has more risk & volatility, ESCT or 3IN?

The European Smaller Companies Trust has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, 3i Infrastructure has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

The European Smaller Companies Trust beats 3i Infrastructure on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.