Hercules Capital (HTGC) Competitors

Hercules Capital (NYSE:HTGC) and FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking and profitability.

Does the media refer more to HTGC or FSV?

In the previous week, Hercules Capital had 5 more articles in the media than FirstService. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Hercules Capital and 3 mentions for FirstService. FirstService's average media sentiment score of 1.81 beat Hercules Capital's score of 1.13 indicating that FirstService is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hercules Capital	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
FirstService	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of HTGC or FSV?

19.7% of Hercules Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.3% of FirstService shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Hercules Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is HTGC or FSV a better dividend stock?

Hercules Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.8%. FirstService pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Hercules Capital pays out 120.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. FirstService pays out 38.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hercules Capital has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and FirstService has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, HTGC or FSV?

Hercules Capital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than FirstService. Hercules Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FirstService, 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
Hercules Capital	$310.72M	10.21	$262.97M	$1.33	13.60
FirstService	$5.31B	1.52	$134.38M	$2.89	61.60

Which has more risk & volatility, HTGC or FSV?

Hercules Capital has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FirstService has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HTGC or FSV?

Hercules Capital received 147 more outperform votes than FirstService when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.63% of users gave Hercules Capital an outperform vote while only 59.74% of users gave FirstService an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hercules Capital	Outperform Votes 475 64.63%	Underperform Votes 260 35.37%
FirstService	Outperform Votes 328 59.74%	Underperform Votes 221 40.26%

Do analysts prefer HTGC or FSV?

Hercules Capital currently has a consensus target price of $19.92, indicating a potential upside of 10.13%. FirstService has a consensus target price of $208.40, indicating a potential upside of 17.06%. Given FirstService's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe FirstService is more favorable than Hercules Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hercules Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
FirstService	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Is HTGC or FSV more profitable?

Hercules Capital has a net margin of 53.28% compared to FirstService's net margin of 2.58%. Hercules Capital's return on equity of 17.19% beat FirstService's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hercules Capital	53.28%	17.19%	8.77%
FirstService	2.58%	17.15%	4.79%

Summary

Hercules Capital beats FirstService on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.