WH Smith (SMWH) Share Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

WH Smith PLC operates as a retailer in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in two segments, Travel and High Street. The Travel segment offers news, books, and convenience for travelling customers. It operates stores in airports, hospitals, railway stations, and motorway service areas. The High Street segment sells stationery products, including greeting cards, general stationery, art and craft, and gifting products; news and impulse products, such as newspapers, magazines, confectionery, and drinks; and books. The company sells its products through digital channels, such as whsmith.co.uk, funkypigeon.com, cultpens.com and dottyaboutpaper.co.uk. The company was founded in 1792 and is based in Swindon, the United Kingdom.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: 434.20 to 456.40
• 50-Day Range: 382.95 to 514.59
• 52-Week Range: 378.60 to 1,120
• Volume: 349,073 shs
• Average Volume: 4.04 million shs
• Market Capitalization: £661.86 million
• P/E Ratio: N/A
• Dividend Yield: 3.06%
• Price Target: GBX 570
• Consensus Rating: Hold

WH Smith Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

WH Smith scored higher than 83% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

WH Smith has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.43, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 3 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

WH Smith has a consensus price target of GBX 570, representing about 29.6% upside from its current price of GBX 439.77.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

WH Smith has been the subject of 5 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: N/A

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of WH Smith is -4.55, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of WH Smith is -4.55, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

WH Smith has a PEG Ratio of 2.65. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

WH Smith has a P/B Ratio of 1.29. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: N/A
• Short Interest Level: N/A

Short Interest

There is no current short interest data available for SMWH.

Dividend

• Score: 0.8 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

WH Smith pays a meaningful dividend of 3.06%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

WH Smith does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.53

News Sentiment

WH Smith has a news sentiment score of 1.53. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.57 average news sentiment score of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 5 news articles for WH Smith this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 4.3 / 5
• Insider Trading: Acquiring Shares

Cluster Insider Buying

5 insiders have purchased shares of WH Smith in the last three months. Multiple insiders buying is a strong bullish signal.

Net Insider Buying

Over the last three months, insiders have purchased a net £1,794,852 in company stock, which represents 0.2712% of the company's market cap.

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, WH Smith insiders have bought more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought £1,794,852 in company stock and sold GBX 0 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.88% of the stock of WH Smith is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

71.86% of the stock of WH Smith is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 4/23/2026
• Today: 8/11/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: LON
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: Diversified Consumer Services
• Sub-Industry: Specialized Consumer Services
• Current Symbol: LON:SMWH
• Previous Symbol: LON:NWS
• CIK: N/A
• Web: www.whsmithplc.co.uk
• Phone: +44-1793-616161
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 14,935
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for WH Smith: GBX 570
• High Price Target: GBX 800
• Low Price Target: GBX 390
• Potential Upside/Downside: +29.6%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.43
• Research Coverage: 7 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): GBX (96.70)
• Trailing P/E Ratio: N/A
• Forward P/E Ratio: 4.36
• P/E Growth: 2.65
• Net Income: £63.01 million
• Net Margins: -9.48%
• Pretax Margin: N/A
• Return on Equity: -90.46%
• Return on Assets: 6.62%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 846.40
• Current Ratio: 0.33
• Quick Ratio: 0.42

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: £1.59 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.42
• Cash Flow: GBX 30.62 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 14.36
• Book Value: GBX 341.06 per share
• Price / Book: 1.29

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 150,500,000
• Free Float: N/A
• Market Cap: £661.86 million
• Optionable: Not Optionable
• Beta: 0.93