Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) Competitors

Alliance Trust (LON:ATST) and Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (LON:ASL) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Which has better earnings and valuation, ATST or ASL?

Alliance Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. Alliance 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
Alliance Trust	£652.76M	0.00	£601.66M	£2.12	N/A
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	£226.05M	5.01	£255.01M	£304.31	4.46

Is ATST or ASL a better dividend stock?

Alliance Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 26 per share. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 42 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Alliance Trust pays out 1,226.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust pays out 13.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to ATST or ASL?

In the previous week, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.55 beat Alliance Trust's score of 0.00 indicating that Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Alliance Trust	Neutral
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Very Positive

Is ATST or ASL more profitable?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a net margin of 112.81% compared to Alliance Trust's net margin of 92.17%. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's return on equity of 18.22% beat Alliance Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alliance Trust	92.17%	17.93%	10.95%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	112.81%	18.22%	11.67%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ATST or ASL?

6.9% of Alliance Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.3% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of Alliance 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, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, ATST or ASL?

Alliance Trust has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ATST or ASL?

Alliance Trust received 27 more outperform votes than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.33% of users gave Alliance Trust an outperform vote while only 72.81% of users gave Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Alliance Trust	Outperform Votes 110 73.33%	Underperform Votes 40 26.67%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Outperform Votes 83 72.81%	Underperform Votes 31 27.19%

Summary

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust beats Alliance Trust on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.