WPP vs. RTO, HRI, FOUR, RSG, CSN, LOOK, PAY, OCN, TRMR, and HUR
Should you be buying WPP stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of WPP include Rentokil Initial (RTO), Herald (HRI), 4imprint Group (FOUR), Resolute Mining (RSG), Chesnara (CSN), Lookers (LOOK), PayPoint (PAY), Ocean Wilsons (OCN), Tremor International (TRMR), and Hurricane Energy (HUR). These companies are all part of the "business services" industry.
WPP vs. Its Competitors
WPP (LON:WPP) and Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and risk.
Rentokil Initial has a net margin of 7.25% compared to WPP's net margin of 1.37%. Rentokil Initial's return on equity of 9.50% beat WPP's return on equity.
68.3% of WPP shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Rentokil Initial shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of WPP shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Rentokil Initial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
WPP pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.39 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Rentokil Initial pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. WPP pays out 113.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Rentokil Initial pays out 92.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
WPP has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rentokil Initial has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, WPP had 1 more articles in the media than Rentokil Initial. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for WPP and 2 mentions for Rentokil Initial. Rentokil Initial's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat WPP's score of 0.08 indicating that Rentokil Initial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
WPP currently has a consensus target price of GBX 480, suggesting a potential upside of 20.21%. Rentokil Initial has a consensus target price of GBX 435, suggesting a potential upside of 16.28%. Given WPP's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe WPP is more favorable than Rentokil Initial.
Rentokil Initial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than WPP. WPP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Rentokil Initial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Rentokil Initial beats WPP on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get WPP News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for WPP and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WPP and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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.
Related Companies and Tools
This page (LON:WPP) was last updated on 9/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
Free WPP Stock Alerts