The European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT) Competitors

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

Is 3IN or ESCT a better dividend stock?

3i Infrastructure pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. The European Smaller Companies Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. 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. The European Smaller Companies Trust pays out 23.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Which has better valuation & earnings, 3IN or ESCT?

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
3i Infrastructure	£374M	8.34	£347M	£0.38	889.47
The European Smaller Companies Trust	£96.24M	8.61	£83.79M	£21.21	9.90

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

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

Is 3IN or ESCT 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
3i Infrastructure	92.78%	10.77%	4.83%
The European Smaller Companies Trust	87.06%	10.91%	6.62%

Does the media prefer 3IN or ESCT?

In the previous week, 3i Infrastructure had 2 more articles in the media than The European Smaller Companies Trust. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for 3i Infrastructure and 1 mentions for The European Smaller Companies Trust. The European Smaller Companies Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.55 beat 3i Infrastructure's score of 0.94 indicating that The European Smaller Companies Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
3i Infrastructure	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
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

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

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

Summary

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