MS INTERNATIONAL (MSI) Competitors

MS INTERNATIONAL (LON:MSI) and Empiric Student Property (LON:ESP) are both small-cap electronic equipment companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, MSI or ESP?

Empiric Student Property has lower revenue, but higher earnings than MS INTERNATIONAL. Empiric Student Property is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MS INTERNATIONAL, 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
MS INTERNATIONAL	£107.14M	1.66	£11.24M	£71.74	15.61
Empiric Student Property	£89.58M	7.37	£58.84M	£8.90	11.19

Which has more risk and volatility, MSI or ESP?

MS INTERNATIONAL has a beta of 0.04, meaning that its stock price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Empiric Student Property has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in MSI or ESP?

10.2% of MS INTERNATIONAL shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Empiric Student Property shares are owned by institutional investors. 56.8% of MS INTERNATIONAL shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Empiric Student Property shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer MSI or ESP?

In the previous week, MS INTERNATIONAL's average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat Empiric Student Property's score of 0.00 indicating that MS INTERNATIONAL is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
MS INTERNATIONAL	Positive
Empiric Student Property	Neutral

Is MSI or ESP more profitable?

Empiric Student Property has a net margin of 65.69% compared to MS INTERNATIONAL's net margin of 10.49%. MS INTERNATIONAL's return on equity of 24.42% beat Empiric Student Property's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MS INTERNATIONAL	10.49%	24.42%	8.03%
Empiric Student Property	65.69%	7.23%	2.26%

Is MSI or ESP a better dividend stock?

MS INTERNATIONAL pays an annual dividend of GBX 20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Empiric Student Property pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. MS INTERNATIONAL pays out 27.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Empiric Student Property pays out 44.9% 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.

Summary

MS INTERNATIONAL beats Empiric Student Property on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.