Halfords Group (HFD) Competitors

Halfords Group (LON:HFD) and WH Smith (LON:SMWH) 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 media sentiment, valuation, earnings, profitability, community ranking, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HFD or SMWH?

Halfords Group received 119 more outperform votes than WH Smith when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.37% of users gave Halfords Group an outperform vote while only 62.55% of users gave WH Smith an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Halfords Group	Outperform Votes 600 66.37%	Underperform Votes 304 33.63%
WH Smith	Outperform Votes 481 62.55%	Underperform Votes 288 37.45%

Is HFD or SMWH a better dividend stock?

Halfords Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. WH Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. 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. WH Smith pays out 66.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HFD or SMWH?

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

Is HFD or SMWH 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
Halfords Group	0.85%	2.61%	2.68%
WH Smith	3.44%	17.78%	6.62%

Do analysts rate HFD or SMWH?

Halfords Group presently has a consensus price target of GBX 148.50, suggesting a potential downside of 6.01%. WH Smith has a consensus price target of GBX 1,456.67, suggesting a potential upside of 59.46%. Given WH Smith's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WH Smith is more favorable than Halfords Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Halfords Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
WH Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Which has better valuation & earnings, HFD or SMWH?

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
Halfords Group	£1.69B	0.20	£14.31M	£6.62	23.86
WH Smith	£1.83B	0.64	£63.01M	£48.47	18.85

Which has more risk and volatility, HFD or SMWH?

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

Does the media favor HFD or SMWH?

In the previous week, Halfords Group and Halfords Group both had 1 articles in the media. Halfords Group's average media sentiment score of 0.00 beat WH Smith's score of -0.10 indicating that Halfords Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Summary

WH Smith beats Halfords Group on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.