Mears Group (MER) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility & risk, MER or XPS?

Mears Group has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, XPS Pensions Group has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MER or XPS?

Mears Group received 239 more outperform votes than XPS Pensions Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 75.31% of users gave XPS Pensions Group an outperform vote while only 75.05% of users gave Mears Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mears Group	Outperform Votes 361 75.05%	Underperform Votes 120 24.95%
XPS Pensions Group	Outperform Votes 122 75.31%	Underperform Votes 40 24.69%

Is MER or XPS more profitable?

XPS Pensions Group has a net margin of 128.13% compared to Mears Group's net margin of 3.67%. XPS Pensions Group's return on equity of 156.24% beat Mears Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mears Group	3.67%	21.83%	5.86%
XPS Pensions Group	128.13%	156.24%	7.60%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, MER or XPS?

XPS Pensions Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Mears Group. XPS Pensions Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mears 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
Mears Group	£1.08B	0.33	£39.43M	£44.88	9.05
XPS Pensions Group	£199.97M	4.15	£256.22M	£124.54	3.22

Does the media prefer MER or XPS?

In the previous week, Mears Group had 2 more articles in the media than XPS Pensions Group. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Mears Group and 0 mentions for XPS Pensions Group. Mears Group's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat XPS Pensions Group's score of 0.50 indicating that Mears Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Mears Group	Positive
XPS Pensions Group	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in MER or XPS?

102.0% of Mears Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.3% of XPS Pensions Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.8% of Mears Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of XPS Pensions Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is MER or XPS a better dividend stock?

Mears Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. XPS Pensions Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Mears Group pays out 31.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. XPS Pensions Group pays out 8.0% 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.

Do analysts prefer MER or XPS?

XPS Pensions Group has a consensus target price of GBX 396.50, indicating a potential downside of 1.25%. Given XPS Pensions Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe XPS Pensions Group is more favorable than Mears Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mears Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
XPS Pensions Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Summary

XPS Pensions Group beats Mears Group on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.