Ferguson (FERG) Competitors

Ferguson (LON:FERG) and Plus500 (LON:PLUS) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, community ranking, valuation and institutional ownership.

Is FERG or PLUS more profitable?

Plus500 has a net margin of 36.45% compared to Ferguson's net margin of 5.86%. Plus500's return on equity of 39.31% beat Ferguson's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ferguson	5.86%	32.57%	10.15%
Plus500	36.45%	39.31%	26.75%

Do analysts rate FERG or PLUS?

Plus500 has a consensus target price of GBX 2,341.50, suggesting a potential downside of 6.04%. Given Plus500's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Plus500 is more favorable than Ferguson.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ferguson	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Plus500	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media refer more to FERG or PLUS?

In the previous week, Ferguson had 17 more articles in the media than Plus500. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Ferguson and 0 mentions for Plus500. Plus500's average media sentiment score of 0.67 beat Ferguson's score of 0.01 indicating that Plus500 is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Ferguson	Neutral
Plus500	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FERG or PLUS?

Plus500 received 18 more outperform votes than Ferguson when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.99% of users gave Plus500 an outperform vote while only 66.53% of users gave Ferguson an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ferguson	Outperform Votes 336 66.53%	Underperform Votes 169 33.47%
Plus500	Outperform Votes 354 72.99%	Underperform Votes 131 27.01%

Is FERG or PLUS a better dividend stock?

Ferguson pays an annual dividend of GBX 236 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Plus500 pays an annual dividend of GBX 66 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Ferguson pays out 3,592.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Plus500 pays out 2,548.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Plus500 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, FERG or PLUS?

Ferguson has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Plus500 has a beta of 0.2, indicating that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, FERG or PLUS?

Ferguson has higher revenue and earnings than Plus500. Plus500 is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ferguson, 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
Ferguson	£29.64B	1.08	£1.74B	£6.57	2,438.36
Plus500	£750.80M	2.47	£273.70M	£2.59	962.16

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FERG or PLUS?

87.3% of Ferguson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.2% of Plus500 shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Ferguson shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Plus500 shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Plus500 beats Ferguson on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.