Nelnet (NNI) Competitors

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) and Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Is SLM or NNI more profitable?

SLM has a net margin of 15.46% compared to Nelnet's net margin of 14.86%. SLM's return on equity of 21.93% beat Nelnet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SLM	15.46%	21.93%	1.49%
Nelnet	14.86%	10.09%	2.42%

Is SLM or NNI a better dividend stock?

SLM pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Nelnet pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. SLM pays out 26.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nelnet pays out 13.3% 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. SLM has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. SLM is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media prefer SLM or NNI?

In the previous week, SLM had 14 more articles in the media than Nelnet. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for SLM and 2 mentions for Nelnet. Nelnet's average media sentiment score of 0.00 beat SLM's score of -0.02 indicating that Nelnet is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SLM	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Nelnet	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate SLM or NNI?

SLM presently has a consensus target price of $35.78, suggesting a potential upside of 29.86%. Given SLM's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe SLM is more favorable than Nelnet.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SLM	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Nelnet	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has more risk & volatility, SLM or NNI?

SLM has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nelnet has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, SLM or NNI?

SLM has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Nelnet. SLM is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nelnet, 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	$1.76B	3.27	$608.33M	$1.99	13.84
Nelnet	$2.14B	2.19	$184.04M	$9.03	14.36

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in SLM or NNI?

98.9% of SLM shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Nelnet shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of SLM shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 50.9% of Nelnet shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

SLM beats Nelnet on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.