UIL (UTL) Competitors

Ashtead Technology (LON:AT) and UIL (LON:UTL) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Is AT or UTL more profitable?

UIL has a net margin of 156.15% compared to Ashtead Technology's net margin of 17.37%. Ashtead Technology's return on equity of 23.56% beat UIL's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashtead Technology	17.37%	23.56%	13.14%
UIL	156.15%	-16.21%	-3.94%

Which has more volatility and risk, AT or UTL?

Ashtead Technology has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UIL has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation & earnings, AT or UTL?

Ashtead Technology has higher revenue and earnings than UIL. UIL is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ashtead Technology, 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
Ashtead Technology	£139.68M	2.54	£24.26M	£30.98	14.43
UIL	-£16.90M	-6.21	-£26.39M	-£29.84	-3.98

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AT or UTL?

UIL received 76 more outperform votes than Ashtead Technology when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 100.00% of users gave Ashtead Technology an outperform vote while only 76.99% of users gave UIL an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ashtead Technology	Outperform Votes 11 100.00%	Underperform Votes No Votes
UIL	Outperform Votes 87 76.99%	Underperform Votes 26 23.01%

Is AT or UTL a better dividend stock?

Ashtead Technology pays an annual dividend of GBX 1 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. UIL pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Ashtead Technology pays out 3.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. UIL pays out -26.8% 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. UIL is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts recommend AT or UTL?

Ashtead Technology presently has a consensus price target of GBX 830, suggesting a potential upside of 85.68%. Given Ashtead Technology's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Ashtead Technology is more favorable than UIL.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashtead Technology	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
UIL	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media favor AT or UTL?

In the previous week, UIL had 1 more articles in the media than Ashtead Technology. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for UIL and 1 mentions for Ashtead Technology. UIL's average media sentiment score of 0.12 beat Ashtead Technology's score of 0.00 indicating that UIL is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ashtead Technology	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
UIL	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AT or UTL?

75.9% of Ashtead Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Ashtead Technology shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 78.0% of UIL shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ashtead Technology beats UIL on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.