CTY vs. DPLM, HWDN, DPH, IGG, GNS, SMWH, CAR, PRP, AUK, and STG
Should you be buying City of London stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of City of London include Diploma (DPLM), Howden Joinery Group (HWDN), Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH), IG Group (IGG), Genus (GNS), WH Smith (SMWH), Carclo (CAR), Prime People (PRP), Aukett Swanke Group (AUK), and Strip Tinning (STG). These companies are all part of the "personal services" industry.
City of London vs. Its Competitors
City of London (LON:CTY) and Diploma (LON:DPLM) are both mid-cap personal services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and media sentiment.
City of London has a net margin of 95.77% compared to Diploma's net margin of 9.25%. City of London's return on equity of 14.45% beat Diploma's return on equity.
City of London has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Diploma. City of London is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Diploma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
City of London pays an annual dividend of GBX 21 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Diploma pays an annual dividend of GBX 57 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. City of London pays out 35.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Diploma pays out 65.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. City of London is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
8.6% of City of London shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.5% of Diploma shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of City of London shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Diploma shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
City of London has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Diploma has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, City of London and City of London both had 3 articles in the media. Diploma's average media sentiment score of 0.20 beat City of London's score of -0.16 indicating that Diploma is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Diploma has a consensus price target of GBX 5,092.50, indicating a potential downside of 4.81%. Given Diploma's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Diploma is more favorable than City of London.
Summary
Diploma beats City of London on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CTY and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of LON and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (LON:CTY) was last updated on 8/2/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff