WH Smith (SMWH) Competitors

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

Is CTY or SMWH 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
City of London	95.77%	14.45%	4.00%
WH Smith	3.44%	17.78%	6.62%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in CTY or SMWH?

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

Which has more risk and volatility, CTY or SMWH?

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

Do analysts rate CTY or SMWH?

WH Smith has a consensus target price of GBX 998.20, indicating a potential upside of 45.45%. 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
City of London	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
WH Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, CTY or SMWH?

City of London has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
City of London	£222.11M	11.17	£294.08M	£0.44	1,132.65
WH Smith	£1.94B	0.44	£63.01M	£0.05	15,251.11

Is CTY or SMWH a better dividend stock?

City of London pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. WH Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. City of London pays out 47.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WH Smith pays out 746.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Does the media refer more to CTY or SMWH?

In the previous week, City of London had 5 more articles in the media than WH Smith. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for City of London and 5 mentions for WH Smith. City of London's average media sentiment score of -0.05 beat WH Smith's score of -0.36 indicating that City of London is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
City of London	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
WH Smith	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

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