Nelnet (NNI) Competitors

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

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 1.6%. 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 raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. SLM is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

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%

Which has more volatility & risk, NNI or SLM?

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

Does the media refer more to NNI or SLM?

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 1.20 beat SLM's score of 0.43 indicating that Nelnet is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Do analysts prefer NNI or SLM?

Nelnet currently has a consensus target price of $98.00, indicating a potential downside of 20.62%. SLM has a consensus target price of $33.40, indicating a potential downside of 0.30%. 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)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, 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	3.78	$184.04M	$5.29	23.34
SLM	$2.62B	2.68	$608.33M	$2.78	12.05

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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

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