Shires Income (SHRS) Competitors

Utilico Emerging Markets Trust (LON:UEM) and Shires Income (LON:SHRS) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, UEM or SHRS?

Shires Income has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Utilico Emerging Markets Trust. Shires Income is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Utilico Emerging Markets 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
Utilico Emerging Markets Trust	£33.05M	13.92	£20.98M	£11.02	22.15
Shires Income	£7.18M	15.94	£72.33M	£178.75	1.58

Which has more risk & volatility, UEM or SHRS?

Utilico Emerging Markets Trust has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shires Income has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is UEM or SHRS a better dividend stock?

Utilico Emerging Markets Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 9 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Shires Income pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Utilico Emerging Markets Trust pays out 81.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Shires Income pays out 7.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Shires Income is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in UEM or SHRS?

54.5% of Utilico Emerging Markets Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.8% of Shires Income shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Utilico Emerging Markets Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 28.5% of Shires Income shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to UEM or SHRS?

In the previous week, Utilico Emerging Markets Trust had 12 more articles in the media than Shires Income. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Utilico Emerging Markets Trust and 0 mentions for Shires Income. Utilico Emerging Markets Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.75 beat Shires Income's score of 0.00 indicating that Utilico Emerging Markets Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Utilico Emerging Markets Trust	Very Positive
Shires Income	Neutral

Is UEM or SHRS more profitable?

Shires Income has a net margin of 1,007.53% compared to Utilico Emerging Markets Trust's net margin of 63.48%. Shires Income's return on equity of 68.29% beat Utilico Emerging Markets Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Utilico Emerging Markets Trust	63.48%	4.12%	7.22%
Shires Income	1,007.53%	68.29%	-0.15%

Summary

Shires Income beats Utilico Emerging Markets Trust on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.