STEM vs. HAS, PAGE, IPEL, RWA, NBB, STAF, GATC, RTC, EMR, and BIFF
Should you be buying SThree stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of SThree include Hays (HAS), PageGroup (PAGE), Impellam Group (IPEL), Robert Walters (RWA), Norman Broadbent (NBB), Staffline Group (STAF), Gattaca (GATC), RTC Group (RTC), Empresaria Group (EMR), and Biffa (BIFF). These companies are all part of the "industrials" sector.
SThree vs. Its Competitors
Hays (LON:HAS) and SThree (LON:STEM) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and media sentiment.
Hays pays an annual dividend of GBX 3 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. SThree pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Hays pays out -962.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SThree pays out 45.0% 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.
In the previous week, SThree had 1 more articles in the media than Hays. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for SThree and 2 mentions for Hays. SThree's average media sentiment score of 0.45 beat Hays' score of 0.00 indicating that SThree is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Hays has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SThree has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Hays currently has a consensus price target of GBX 107.50, indicating a potential upside of 62.66%. SThree has a consensus price target of GBX 350, indicating a potential upside of 38.34%. Given Hays' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hays is more favorable than SThree.
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.
91.2% of Hays shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.8% of SThree shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Hays shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of SThree shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
SThree has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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.
Summary
SThree beats Hays on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of LON and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (LON:STEM) was last updated on 7/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
