Aaron's (PRG) Competitors

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

Is PRG or NNI a better dividend stock?

Aaron's pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Nelnet pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Aaron's pays out 10.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nelnet pays out 21.2% 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. Aaron's has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Aaron's is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, PRG or NNI?

Aaron's has a beta of 1.76, indicating that its stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nelnet has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in PRG or NNI?

97.9% of Aaron's shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Nelnet shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of Aaron's shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 50.9% of Nelnet shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is PRG or NNI more profitable?

Nelnet has a net margin of 9.44% compared to Aaron's' net margin of 8.38%. Aaron's' return on equity of 23.11% beat Nelnet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aaron's	8.38%	23.11%	9.88%
Nelnet	9.44%	6.00%	1.39%

Which has better earnings & valuation, PRG or NNI?

Aaron's has higher revenue and earnings than Nelnet. Aaron's 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
Aaron's	$2.46B	0.50	$197.25M	$4.88	6.25
Nelnet	$2.14B	2.08	$184.04M	$5.29	23.14

Do analysts recommend PRG or NNI?

Aaron's presently has a consensus target price of $44.83, suggesting a potential upside of 46.90%. Nelnet has a consensus target price of $98.00, suggesting a potential downside of 19.93%. Given Aaron's' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Aaron's is more favorable than Nelnet.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aaron's	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Nelnet	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to PRG or NNI?

In the previous week, Aaron's had 1 more articles in the media than Nelnet. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Aaron's and 2 mentions for Nelnet. Aaron's' average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Nelnet's score of 0.45 indicating that Aaron's is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Summary

Aaron's beats Nelnet on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.