Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) Competitors

Polar Capital Technology Trust (LON:PCT) and Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (LON:ASL) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and media sentiment.

Which has more volatility & risk, PCT or ASL?

Polar Capital Technology Trust has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer PCT or ASL?

In the previous week, Polar Capital Technology Trust had 2 more articles in the media than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Polar Capital Technology Trust and 1 mentions for Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat Polar Capital Technology Trust's score of 0.92 indicating that Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Polar Capital Technology Trust	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PCT or ASL?

Polar Capital Technology Trust and Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust both received 83 outperform votes by MarketBeat users. However, 72.81% of users gave Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust an outperform vote while only 64.34% of users gave Polar Capital Technology Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Polar Capital Technology Trust	Outperform Votes 83 64.34%	Underperform Votes 46 35.66%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Outperform Votes 83 72.81%	Underperform Votes 31 27.19%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, PCT or ASL?

Polar Capital Technology Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. Polar Capital Technology Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, 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
Polar Capital Technology Trust	£1.24B	3.18	£1.20B	£101.86	3.30
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	£226.05M	5.01	£255.01M	£304.31	4.46

Is PCT or ASL more profitable?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a net margin of 112.81% compared to Polar Capital Technology Trust's net margin of 96.56%. Polar Capital Technology Trust's return on equity of 30.54% beat Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Polar Capital Technology Trust	96.56%	30.54%	20.70%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	112.81%	18.22%	11.67%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PCT or ASL?

43.2% of Polar Capital Technology Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.3% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Polar Capital Technology Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.4% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust beats Polar Capital Technology Trust on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.