WPP (WPP) Competitors

Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) and WPP (LON:WPP) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, valuation and profitability.

Do analysts rate RTO or WPP?

Rentokil Initial presently has a consensus price target of GBX 478.33, indicating a potential upside of 39.33%. WPP has a consensus price target of GBX 715, indicating a potential upside of 73.00%. Given WPP's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe WPP is more favorable than Rentokil Initial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rentokil Initial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
WPP	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Is RTO or WPP a better dividend stock?

Rentokil Initial pays an annual dividend of GBX 9 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. WPP pays an annual dividend of GBX 39 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.4%. Rentokil Initial pays out 57.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WPP pays out 206.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has better earnings and valuation, RTO or WPP?

Rentokil Initial has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rentokil Initial	£5.38B	1.60	£389.49M	£15.59	22.02
WPP	£14.89B	0.30	£203.92M	£18.93	21.83

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in RTO or WPP?

99.0% of Rentokil Initial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of WPP shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Rentokil Initial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of WPP shares are held 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.

Does the media favor RTO or WPP?

In the previous week, Rentokil Initial had 1 more articles in the media than WPP. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Rentokil Initial and 1 mentions for WPP. Rentokil Initial's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat WPP's score of 0.04 indicating that Rentokil Initial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Rentokil Initial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
WPP	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is RTO or WPP more profitable?

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.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rentokil Initial	7.25%	9.50%	4.11%
WPP	1.37%	5.92%	1.53%

Which has more risk and volatility, RTO or WPP?

Rentokil Initial has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WPP has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Rentokil Initial beats WPP on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.