Halfords Group (HFD) Competitors

WH Smith (LON:SMWH) and Halfords Group (LON:HFD) are both small-cap consumer cyclical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, media sentiment, risk, valuation, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Is SMWH or HFD a better dividend stock?

WH Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Halfords Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. WH Smith pays out 66.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Halfords Group pays out 120.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SMWH or HFD?

Halfords Group received 118 more outperform votes than WH Smith when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.37% of users gave Halfords Group an outperform vote while only 62.60% of users gave WH Smith an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
WH Smith	Outperform Votes 482 62.60%	Underperform Votes 288 37.40%
Halfords Group	Outperform Votes 600 66.37%	Underperform Votes 304 33.63%

Is SMWH or HFD more profitable?

WH Smith has a net margin of 3.44% compared to Halfords Group's net margin of 0.85%. WH Smith's return on equity of 17.78% beat Halfords Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WH Smith	3.44%	17.78%	6.62%
Halfords Group	0.85%	2.61%	2.68%

Do analysts recommend SMWH or HFD?

WH Smith currently has a consensus target price of GBX 1,430, indicating a potential upside of 33.40%. Halfords Group has a consensus target price of GBX 148.50, indicating a potential downside of 14.16%. Given WH Smith's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe WH Smith is more favorable than Halfords Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WH Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Halfords Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media favor SMWH or HFD?

In the previous week, WH Smith had 3 more articles in the media than Halfords Group. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for WH Smith and 2 mentions for Halfords Group. Halfords Group's average media sentiment score of 0.83 beat WH Smith's score of -0.13 indicating that Halfords Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
WH Smith	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Halfords Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SMWH or HFD?

91.2% of WH Smith shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Halfords Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of WH Smith shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Halfords Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, SMWH or HFD?

WH Smith has a beta of 1.67, suggesting that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Halfords Group has a beta of 1.62, suggesting that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, SMWH or HFD?

WH Smith has higher revenue and earnings than Halfords Group. WH Smith is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Halfords 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
WH Smith	£1.83B	0.75	£63.01M	£48.47	22.11
Halfords Group	£1.69B	0.22	£14.31M	£6.62	26.13

Summary

WH Smith beats Halfords Group on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.