The Merchants Trust (MRCH) Competitors

3i Infrastructure (LON:3IN) and The Merchants Trust (LON:MRCH) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, community ranking, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Which has more volatility and risk, 3IN or MRCH?

3i Infrastructure has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Merchants Trust has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is 3IN or MRCH more profitable?

3i Infrastructure has a net margin of 92.78% compared to The Merchants Trust's net margin of 90.97%. The Merchants Trust's return on equity of 13.03% beat 3i Infrastructure's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
3i Infrastructure	92.78%	10.77%	4.83%
The Merchants Trust	90.97%	13.03%	7.70%

Does the media favor 3IN or MRCH?

In the previous week, 3i Infrastructure had 1 more articles in the media than The Merchants Trust. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for 3i Infrastructure and 0 mentions for The Merchants Trust. The Merchants Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.73 beat 3i Infrastructure's score of -0.09 indicating that The Merchants Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
3i Infrastructure	Neutral
The Merchants Trust	Very Positive

Do insiders & institutionals believe in 3IN or MRCH?

55.1% of 3i Infrastructure shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.1% of The Merchants Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of 3i Infrastructure shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of The Merchants Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is 3IN or MRCH a better dividend stock?

3i Infrastructure pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. The Merchants Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 29 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. 3i Infrastructure pays out 3,157.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. The Merchants Trust pays out 39.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Merchants Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor 3IN or MRCH?

3i Infrastructure received 103 more outperform votes than The Merchants Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.95% of users gave 3i Infrastructure an outperform vote while only 55.48% of users gave The Merchants Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
3i Infrastructure	Outperform Votes 184 65.95%	Underperform Votes 95 34.05%
The Merchants Trust	Outperform Votes 81 55.48%	Underperform Votes 65 44.52%

Which has better earnings and valuation, 3IN or MRCH?

3i Infrastructure has higher revenue and earnings than The Merchants Trust. The Merchants Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than 3i Infrastructure, 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
3i Infrastructure	£374M	7.95	£347M	£0.38	848.68
The Merchants Trust	£119.93M	6.99	£109.11M	£73.21	7.70

Summary

3i Infrastructure beats The Merchants Trust on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.