Ricardo (RCDO) Competitors

Ricardo (LON:RCDO) and Alpha Financial Markets Consulting (LON:AFM) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Is RCDO or AFM more profitable?

Alpha Financial Markets Consulting has a net margin of 6.78% compared to Ricardo's net margin of 0.15%. Alpha Financial Markets Consulting's return on equity of 10.64% beat Ricardo's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ricardo	0.15%	0.42%	4.91%
Alpha Financial Markets Consulting	6.78%	10.64%	7.51%

Which has more risk & volatility, RCDO or AFM?

Ricardo has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alpha Financial Markets Consulting has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate RCDO or AFM?

Ricardo currently has a consensus target price of GBX 430, indicating a potential upside of 0.70%. Given Ricardo's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ricardo is more favorable than Alpha Financial Markets Consulting.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ricardo	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Alpha Financial Markets Consulting	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is RCDO or AFM a better dividend stock?

Ricardo pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Alpha Financial Markets Consulting pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share. Ricardo pays out 25.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alpha Financial Markets Consulting pays out 10,769.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ricardo is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better earnings and valuation, RCDO or AFM?

Alpha Financial Markets Consulting has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ricardo. Alpha Financial Markets Consulting is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ricardo, 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
Ricardo	£476.20M	0.56	£693.06K	£0.50	855.71
Alpha Financial Markets Consulting	£233.62M	0.00	£15.85M	£0.13	N/A

Does the media favor RCDO or AFM?

In the previous week, Ricardo had 1 more articles in the media than Alpha Financial Markets Consulting. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Ricardo and 0 mentions for Alpha Financial Markets Consulting. Ricardo's average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat Alpha Financial Markets Consulting's score of 0.00 indicating that Ricardo is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Ricardo	Positive
Alpha Financial Markets Consulting	Neutral

Do institutionals and insiders believe in RCDO or AFM?

61.1% of Ricardo shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.8% of Alpha Financial Markets Consulting shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Ricardo shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.4% of Alpha Financial Markets Consulting shares are held 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.

Summary

Ricardo and Alpha Financial Markets Consulting tied by winning 8 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.