H&T Group (HAT) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend PFG or HAT?

H&T Group has a consensus target price of GBX 545, indicating a potential downside of 14.84%. Given Vanquis Banking Group's higher probable upside, equities research 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
Vanquis Banking Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
H&T Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is PFG or HAT a better dividend stock?

Vanquis Banking Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share. H&T Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 18 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. 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 pays out 35.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. H&T Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility & risk, PFG or HAT?

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

Does the media refer more to PFG or HAT?

In the previous week, 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 news media.

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

Which has better earnings and valuation, PFG or HAT?

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
Vanquis Banking Group	£446.50M	0.00	£103.50M	£0.41	N/A
H&T Group	£240.86M	1.16	£21.82M	£50.54	12.66

Is PFG or HAT 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
Vanquis Banking Group	8.73%	17.19%	4.14%
H&T Group	9.06%	12.14%	9.07%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in PFG or HAT?

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

Summary

H&T Group beats Vanquis Banking Group on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.