Pearson (PSON) Competitors

Informa (LON:INF) and Pearson (LON:PSON) are both communication services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor INF or PSON?

Pearson received 14 more outperform votes than Informa when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.81% of users gave Informa an outperform vote while only 54.50% of users gave Pearson an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Informa	Outperform Votes 695 65.81%	Underperform Votes 361 34.19%
Pearson	Outperform Votes 709 54.50%	Underperform Votes 592 45.50%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in INF or PSON?

79.1% of Informa shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Pearson shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Informa shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Pearson shares are held by 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.

Is INF or PSON more profitable?

Informa has a net margin of 13.14% compared to Informa's net margin of 10.29%. Informa's return on equity of 9.04% beat Pearson's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Informa	13.14%	6.32%	3.37%
Pearson	10.29%	9.04%	4.76%

Which has better earnings and valuation, INF or PSON?

Informa has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Pearson. Pearson is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Informa, 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
Informa	£3.19B	3.56	£419M	£0.30	2,803.33
Pearson	£3.67B	1.72	£378M	£0.53	1,768.30

Do analysts rate INF or PSON?

Informa currently has a consensus price target of GBX 865.33, suggesting a potential upside of 2.89%. Pearson has a consensus price target of GBX 1,092.50, suggesting a potential upside of 16.57%. Given Informa's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Pearson is more favorable than Informa.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Informa	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
Pearson	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Which has more risk and volatility, INF or PSON?

Informa has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pearson has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor INF or PSON?

In the previous week, Informa had 12 more articles in the media than Pearson. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Informa and 0 mentions for Pearson. Pearson's average media sentiment score of 0.21 beat Informa's score of 0.00 indicating that Informa is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Informa	Neutral
Pearson	Neutral

Is INF or PSON a better dividend stock?

Informa pays an annual dividend of GBX 18 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Pearson pays an annual dividend of GBX 23 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Informa pays out 6,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Pearson pays out 4,339.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Pearson is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Informa beats Pearson on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.