SLM (SLM) Competitors

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) and Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Is SLM or NAVI a better dividend stock?

SLM pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Navient pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. SLM pays out 18.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Navient pays out 128.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SLM has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SLM or NAVI?

98.9% of SLM shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.1% of Navient shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of SLM shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 31.2% of Navient shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SLM or NAVI more profitable?

SLM has a net margin of 21.05% compared to Navient's net margin of 1.37%. SLM's return on equity of 31.25% beat Navient's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SLM	21.05%	31.25%	2.12%
Navient	1.37%	5.20%	0.26%

Which has more volatility & risk, SLM or NAVI?

SLM has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Navient has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to SLM or NAVI?

In the previous week, SLM had 4 more articles in the media than Navient. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for SLM and 12 mentions for Navient. Navient's average media sentiment score of 0.73 beat SLM's score of 0.51 indicating that Navient is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SLM	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Navient	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer SLM or NAVI?

SLM presently has a consensus target price of $33.40, indicating a potential downside of 0.03%. Navient has a consensus target price of $13.71, indicating a potential downside of 10.01%. Given SLM's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe SLM is more favorable than Navient.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SLM	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90
Navient	3 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.88

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, SLM or NAVI?

SLM has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Navient. SLM is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Navient, 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
SLM	$2.62B	2.68	$608.33M	$2.78	12.02
Navient	$4.43B	0.35	$131M	$0.50	30.48

Summary

SLM beats Navient on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.