abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust (AUSC) Competitors

abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust (LON:AUSC) and Witan Investment Trust (LON:WTAN) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership and dividends.

Is AUSC or WTAN a better dividend stock?

abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 11 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Witan Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 6 per share. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust pays out -2,558.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Witan Investment Trust pays out 1,666.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to AUSC or WTAN?

In the previous week, Witan Investment Trust had 1 more articles in the media than abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Witan Investment Trust and 0 mentions for abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust's average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Witan Investment Trust'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Overall Sentiment
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	Neutral
Witan Investment Trust	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AUSC or WTAN?

Witan Investment Trust received 94 more outperform votes than abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust when rated by MarketBeat users.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	N/A	N/A
Witan Investment Trust	Outperform Votes 94 67.63%	Underperform Votes 45 32.37%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AUSC or WTAN?

58.0% of abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.5% of Witan Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 4.8% of abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Witan Investment Trust shares are held by 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 volatility & risk, AUSC or WTAN?

abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Witan Investment Trust has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AUSC or WTAN more profitable?

Witan Investment Trust has a net margin of 89.43% compared to abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust's net margin of 0.00%. Witan Investment Trust's return on equity of 13.68% beat abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	N/A	-8.33%	-4.68%
Witan Investment Trust	89.43%	13.68%	7.95%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, AUSC or WTAN?

Witan Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust. abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Witan Investment 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
abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust	-£32.79M	-11.95	-£38.55M	-£0.43	-1,161.63
Witan Investment Trust	£246.38M	0.00	£220.34M	£0.36	N/A

Summary

Witan Investment Trust beats abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.