Empiric Student Property (ESP) Competitors

Spire Healthcare Group (LON:SPI) and Empiric Student Property (LON:ESP) 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 valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and media sentiment.

Is SPI or ESP a better dividend stock?

Spire Healthcare Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 3 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Empiric Student Property pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Spire Healthcare Group pays out 42.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Empiric Student Property pays out 44.9% 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, SPI or ESP?

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

Does the media favor SPI or ESP?

In the previous week, Spire Healthcare Group's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Empiric Student Property's score of 0.00 indicating that Spire Healthcare Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Spire Healthcare Group	Positive
Empiric Student Property	Neutral

Do analysts prefer SPI or ESP?

Spire Healthcare Group currently has a consensus price target of GBX 300, suggesting a potential upside of 32.45%. Given Spire Healthcare Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research 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
Spire Healthcare Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Empiric Student Property	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has better earnings and valuation, SPI or ESP?

Empiric Student Property has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Spire Healthcare Group	£1.44B	0.63	£28.15M	£7.03	32.24
Empiric Student Property	£89.58M	7.30	£58.84M	£8.90	11.08

Is SPI or ESP 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
Spire Healthcare Group	1.96%	3.82%	3.73%
Empiric Student Property	65.69%	7.23%	2.26%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in SPI or ESP?

50.4% of Spire Healthcare Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Empiric Student Property shares are owned by institutional investors. 34.7% of Spire Healthcare Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Empiric Student Property shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Spire Healthcare Group beats Empiric Student Property on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.