Halfords Group (HFD) Competitors

Halfords Group (LON:HFD) and Pets at Home Group (LON:PETS) are both small-cap consumer cyclical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and earnings.

Do analysts prefer HFD or PETS?

Halfords Group currently has a consensus target price of GBX 151, suggesting a potential upside of 10.06%. Pets at Home Group has a consensus target price of GBX 273.33, suggesting a potential upside of 21.70%. Given Pets at Home Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Pets at Home Group is more favorable than Halfords Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Halfords Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Pets at Home Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media favor HFD or PETS?

In the previous week, Pets at Home Group had 1 more articles in the media than Halfords Group. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Pets at Home Group and 0 mentions for Halfords Group. Pets at Home Group's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat Halfords Group's score of 0.00 indicating that Pets at Home Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Halfords Group	Neutral
Pets at Home Group	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of HFD or PETS?

70.4% of Halfords Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.1% of Pets at Home Group shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Halfords Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of Pets at Home Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, HFD or PETS?

Halfords Group has a beta of 1.62, indicating that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pets at Home Group has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, HFD or PETS?

Pets at Home Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Halfords Group. Halfords Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pets at Home 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
Halfords Group	£1.72B	0.17	£14.31M	-£0.15	-890.91
Pets at Home Group	£1.48B	0.68	£75.43M	£0.19	1,194.68

Is HFD or PETS more profitable?

Pets at Home Group has a net margin of 5.36% compared to Halfords Group's net margin of 0.85%. Pets at Home Group's return on equity of 8.05% beat Halfords Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Halfords Group	0.85%	2.61%	2.68%
Pets at Home Group	5.36%	8.05%	4.66%

Is HFD or PETS a better dividend stock?

Halfords Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Pets at Home Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Halfords Group pays out -51.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pets at Home Group pays out 69.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Halfords Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Pets at Home Group beats Halfords Group on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.