Octopus Titan VCT (OTV2) Competitors

Octopus Titan VCT (LON:OTV2) and The Mercantile Investment Trust (LON:MRC) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Does the media favor OTV2 or MRC?

In the previous week, The Mercantile Investment Trust had 1 more articles in the media than Octopus Titan VCT. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for The Mercantile Investment Trust and 0 mentions for Octopus Titan VCT. The Mercantile Investment Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.76 beat Octopus Titan VCT's score of 0.00 indicating that The Mercantile Investment Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Octopus Titan VCT	Neutral
The Mercantile Investment Trust	Very Positive

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, OTV2 or MRC?

The Mercantile Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Octopus Titan VCT. Octopus Titan VCT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than The Mercantile Investment Trust, 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
Octopus Titan VCT	-£147.88M	-3.10	-£173.99M	-£11.30	-2.55
The Mercantile Investment Trust	£415.73M	4.46	£393.55M	£53.19	4.69

Is OTV2 or MRC a better dividend stock?

Octopus Titan VCT pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.9%. The Mercantile Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Octopus Titan VCT pays out -35.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Mercantile Investment Trust pays out 15.0% 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. Octopus Titan VCT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, OTV2 or MRC?

Octopus Titan VCT has a beta of -0.09, meaning that its stock price is 109% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Mercantile Investment Trust has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is OTV2 or MRC more profitable?

Octopus Titan VCT has a net margin of 117.66% compared to The Mercantile Investment Trust's net margin of 94.67%. The Mercantile Investment Trust's return on equity of 20.56% beat Octopus Titan VCT's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Octopus Titan VCT	117.66%	-18.89%	-14.38%
The Mercantile Investment Trust	94.67%	20.56%	2.53%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in OTV2 or MRC?

0.1% of Octopus Titan VCT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.8% of The Mercantile Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Octopus Titan VCT shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of The Mercantile Investment Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

The Mercantile Investment Trust beats Octopus Titan VCT on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.