Empiric Student Property (ESP) Competitors

Empiric Student Property (LON:ESP) and Spire Healthcare Group (LON:SPI) are both small-cap electronic equipment companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and profitability.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of ESP or SPI?

42.7% of Empiric Student Property shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.6% of Spire Healthcare Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Empiric Student Property shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.2% of Spire Healthcare Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer ESP or SPI?

In the previous week, Empiric Student Property and Empiric Student Property both had 1 articles in the media. Spire Healthcare Group's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Empiric Student Property's score of 0.75 indicating that Spire Healthcare Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Empiric Student Property	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Spire Healthcare 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 ESP or SPI more profitable?

Empiric Student Property has a net margin of 65.69% compared to Spire Healthcare Group's net margin of 1.96%. Empiric Student Property's return on equity of 7.23% beat Spire Healthcare Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Empiric Student Property	65.69%	7.23%	2.26%
Spire Healthcare Group	1.96%	3.82%	3.73%

Is ESP or SPI a better dividend stock?

Empiric Student Property pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Spire Healthcare Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Empiric Student Property pays out 87.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Spire Healthcare Group pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do analysts prefer ESP or SPI?

Spire Healthcare Group has a consensus price target of GBX 294.33, suggesting a potential upside of 38.84%. Given Spire Healthcare Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Spire Healthcare Group is more favorable than Empiric Student Property.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Empiric Student Property	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Spire Healthcare Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more volatility & risk, ESP or SPI?

Empiric Student Property has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spire Healthcare Group has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ESP or SPI?

Empiric Student Property has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Spire Healthcare Group. Empiric Student Property is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Spire Healthcare 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
Empiric Student Property	£85.60M	7.00	£58.84M	£0.04	2,097.67
Spire Healthcare Group	£1.55B	0.55	£28.15M	£0.05	4,608.70

Summary

Spire Healthcare Group beats Empiric Student Property on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.