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 better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Does the media favor 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. Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust's average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Ashtead Technology'saverage media sentiment score.

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

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 analysts prefer GMP or AT?

Ashtead Technology has a consensus target price of GBX 646.25, suggesting a potential upside of 87.32%. Given Ashtead Technology's stronger consensus rating and higher probable 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)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in 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 company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Ashtead Technology 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.

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 5.6%. Ashtead Technology pays an annual dividend of GBX 1 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. 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 preferable valuation and earnings, 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	0.16	£300.49M	£0.29	29.23
Ashtead Technology	£139.68M	1.96	£24.26M	£30.98	11.14

Summary

Ashtead Technology beats Gabelli Merger Plus+ Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.