WH Smith (SMWH) Competitors

WH Smith (LON:SMWH) and City of London (LON:CTY) are both personal services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Is SMWH or CTY a better dividend stock?

WH Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. City of London pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. WH Smith pays out 7.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. City of London pays out 0.3% 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.

Which has better valuation & earnings, SMWH or CTY?

City of London has lower revenue, but higher earnings than WH Smith. City of London is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WH Smith, 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
WH Smith	£1.94B	0.41	£63.01M	£4.50	143.56
City of London	£344.24M	7.32	£294.08M	£69.31	7.28

Does the media prefer SMWH or CTY?

In the previous week, City of London had 4 more articles in the media than WH Smith. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for City of London and 1 mentions for WH Smith. City of London's average media sentiment score of 0.13 beat WH Smith's score of -0.01 indicating that City of London is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
WH Smith	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
City of London	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is SMWH or CTY more profitable?

City of London has a net margin of 95.77% compared to WH Smith's net margin of 3.44%. WH Smith's return on equity of 17.78% beat City of London's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WH Smith	3.44%	17.78%	6.62%
City of London	95.77%	14.45%	4.00%

Which has more volatility & risk, SMWH or CTY?

WH Smith has a beta of 1.67, meaning that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, City of London has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer SMWH or CTY?

WH Smith currently has a consensus target price of GBX 998.20, indicating a potential upside of 54.52%. Given WH Smith's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe WH Smith is more favorable than City of London.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WH Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
City of London	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SMWH or CTY?

71.9% of WH Smith shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.7% of City of London shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of WH Smith shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of City of London shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

WH Smith beats City of London on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.