Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust (GMP) Competitors

Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust (LON:GMP) and Ashtead Technology (LON:AT) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Is GMP or AT a better dividend stock?

Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Ashtead Technology pays an annual dividend of GBX 1 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust pays out 165.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ashtead Technology pays out 3.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Which has better earnings & valuation, GMP or AT?

Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Ashtead Technology. Ashtead Technology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust, 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
Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust	£540.33M	0.17	£300.49M	£0.29	31.12
Ashtead Technology	£139.68M	2.59	£24.26M	£30.98	14.72

Is GMP or AT more profitable?

Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust has a net margin of 55.61% compared to Ashtead Technology's net margin of 17.37%. Ashtead Technology's return on equity of 23.56% beat Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust	55.61%	2.87%	N/A
Ashtead Technology	17.37%	23.56%	13.14%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of GMP or AT?

4.3% of Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.9% of Ashtead Technology shares are owned by institutional investors. 86.7% of Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Ashtead Technology shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer GMP or AT?

In the previous week, Ashtead Technology had 1 more articles in the media than Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Ashtead Technology and 0 mentions for Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust. Ashtead Technology's average media sentiment score of 0.18 beat Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust's score of 0.00 indicating that Ashtead Technology is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust	Neutral
Ashtead Technology	Neutral

Do analysts prefer GMP or AT?

Ashtead Technology has a consensus price target of GBX 830, indicating a potential upside of 82.02%. Given Ashtead Technology's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ashtead Technology is more favorable than Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Ashtead Technology	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

Ashtead Technology beats Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.