SThree (STEM) Competitors

SThree (LON:STEM) and Hays (LON:HAS) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Is STEM or HAS a better dividend stock?

SThree pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Hays pays an annual dividend of GBX 3 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. SThree pays out 45.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hays pays out -962.4% 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.

Does the media favor STEM or HAS?

In the previous week, Hays' average media sentiment score of 0.67 beat SThree's score of 0.00 indicating that Hays is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
SThree	Neutral
Hays	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in STEM or HAS?

83.8% of SThree shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.2% of Hays shares are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of SThree shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Hays shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is STEM or HAS more profitable?

SThree has a net margin of 3.33% compared to Hays' net margin of -0.07%. SThree's return on equity of 20.90% beat Hays' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SThree	3.33%	20.90%	10.67%
Hays	-0.07%	-0.84%	2.27%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, STEM or HAS?

SThree has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hays. Hays is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SThree, 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
SThree	£1.47B	0.20	£48.77M	£37.80	6.02
Hays	£6.91B	0.16	-£4.87M	-£0.31	-225.36

Do analysts rate STEM or HAS?

SThree currently has a consensus price target of GBX 345, indicating a potential upside of 51.65%. Hays has a consensus price target of GBX 120, indicating a potential upside of 70.82%. Given Hays' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hays is more favorable than SThree.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SThree	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Hays	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community favor STEM or HAS?

Hays received 849 more outperform votes than SThree when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 82.86% of users gave SThree an outperform vote while only 70.47% of users gave Hays an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SThree	Outperform Votes 29 82.86%	Underperform Votes 6 17.14%
Hays	Outperform Votes 878 70.47%	Underperform Votes 368 29.53%

Which has more volatility & risk, STEM or HAS?

SThree has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hays has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SThree beats Hays on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.