Nelnet (NNI) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate NNI or SLM?

Nelnet currently has a consensus price target of $98.00, suggesting a potential downside of 19.93%. SLM has a consensus price target of $32.30, suggesting a potential downside of 4.64%. Given SLM's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SLM is more favorable than Nelnet.

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

Is NNI or SLM more profitable?

SLM has a net margin of 21.05% compared to Nelnet's net margin of 9.44%. SLM's return on equity of 31.25% beat Nelnet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nelnet	9.44%	6.00%	1.39%
SLM	21.05%	31.25%	2.12%

Is NNI or SLM a better dividend stock?

Nelnet pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. SLM pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Nelnet pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SLM pays out 18.7% 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, NNI or SLM?

Nelnet has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SLM has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

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

Which has higher valuation and earnings, NNI or SLM?

SLM has higher revenue and earnings 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
Nelnet	$1.18B	3.75	$184.04M	$5.29	23.14
SLM	$2.62B	2.71	$608.33M	$2.78	12.18

Does the media refer more to NNI or SLM?

In the previous week, SLM had 4 more articles in the media than Nelnet. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for SLM and 2 mentions for Nelnet. Nelnet's average media sentiment score of 0.33 beat SLM's score of 0.22 indicating that Nelnet is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Summary

SLM beats Nelnet on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.