Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) Competitors

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

Is MNG or ASL a better dividend stock?

M&G pays an annual dividend of GBX 20 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.9%. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 42 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. M&G pays out 28,571.4% 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 1,377.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has better valuation and earnings, MNG or ASL?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than M&G. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than M&G, 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
M&G	£6.21B	0.77	£167M	£0.07	2,884.29
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	£274.39M	4.40	£257.22M	£3.05	470.16

Which has more risk & volatility, MNG or ASL?

M&G has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MNG or ASL more profitable?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a net margin of 93.74% compared to M&G's net margin of 2.69%. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's return on equity of 19.45% beat M&G's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
M&G	2.69%	4.58%	0.40%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	93.74%	19.45%	11.67%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MNG or ASL?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust received 31 more outperform votes than M&G when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.81% of users gave Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust an outperform vote while only 48.60% of users gave M&G an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
M&G	Outperform Votes 52 48.60%	Underperform Votes 55 51.40%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Outperform Votes 83 72.81%	Underperform Votes 31 27.19%

Does the media favor MNG or ASL?

In the previous week, M&G and M&G both had 1 articles in the media. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.77 beat M&G's score of 1.02 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
M&G	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 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

Do insiders & institutionals believe in MNG or ASL?

54.5% of M&G shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.3% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of M&G 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 is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend MNG or ASL?

M&G presently has a consensus price target of GBX 223.33, indicating a potential upside of 10.62%. Given M&G's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe M&G is more favorable than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
M&G	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Summary

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust beats M&G on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.