H&T Group (HAT) Competitors

H&T Group (LON:HAT) and Vanquis Banking Group (LON:PFG) are both small-cap credit services industry companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, HAT or PFG?

Vanquis Banking Group has higher revenue and earnings than H&T Group. Vanquis Banking Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than H&T 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
H&T Group	£240.86M	1.16	£21.82M	£50.54	12.66
Vanquis Banking Group	£446.50M	0.00	£103.50M	£0.41	N/A

Is HAT or PFG more profitable?

H&T Group has a net margin of 9.06% compared to Vanquis Banking Group's net margin of 8.73%. Vanquis Banking Group's return on equity of 17.19% beat H&T Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
H&T Group	9.06%	12.14%	9.07%
Vanquis Banking Group	8.73%	17.19%	4.14%

Do analysts prefer HAT or PFG?

H&T Group presently has a consensus target price of GBX 545, indicating a potential downside of 14.84%. Given Vanquis Banking Group's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vanquis Banking Group is more favorable than H&T Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
H&T Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Vanquis Banking Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of HAT or PFG?

46.6% of H&T Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Vanquis Banking Group shares are held by institutional investors. 10.3% of H&T Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Vanquis Banking Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor HAT or PFG?

In the previous week, H&T Group had 1 more articles in the media than Vanquis Banking Group. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for H&T Group and 0 mentions for Vanquis Banking Group. H&T Group's average media sentiment score of 0.67 beat Vanquis Banking Group's score of 0.00 indicating that H&T Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
H&T Group	Positive
Vanquis Banking Group	Neutral

Is HAT or PFG a better dividend stock?

H&T Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 18 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Vanquis Banking Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share. H&T Group pays out 35.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Vanquis Banking Group pays out 4,146.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. H&T Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, HAT or PFG?

H&T Group has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vanquis Banking Group has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

H&T Group beats Vanquis Banking Group on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.