Hunting (HTG) Competitors

Ashtead Technology (LON:AT) and Hunting (LON:HTG) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking, media sentiment and dividends.

Is AT or HTG more profitable?

Ashtead Technology has a net margin of 17.37% compared to Hunting's net margin of 13.47%. Ashtead Technology's return on equity of 23.56% beat Hunting's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashtead Technology	17.37%	23.56%	13.14%
Hunting	13.47%	13.25%	4.21%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AT or HTG?

Hunting received 441 more outperform votes than Ashtead Technology when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 100.00% of users gave Ashtead Technology an outperform vote while only 60.29% of users gave Hunting an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ashtead Technology	Outperform Votes 10 100.00%	Underperform Votes No Votes
Hunting	Outperform Votes 451 60.29%	Underperform Votes 297 39.71%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, AT or HTG?

Hunting has higher revenue and earnings than Ashtead Technology. Hunting is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ashtead Technology, 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
Ashtead Technology	£139.68M	2.73	£24.26M	£30.98	15.50
Hunting	£1.15B	0.46	£154.42M	£59.99	4.27

Do analysts recommend AT or HTG?

Ashtead Technology currently has a consensus price target of GBX 830, suggesting a potential upside of 72.92%. Hunting has a consensus price target of GBX 520, suggesting a potential upside of 103.13%. Given Hunting's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hunting is more favorable than Ashtead Technology.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashtead Technology	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Hunting	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor AT or HTG?

In the previous week, Hunting had 1 more articles in the media than Ashtead Technology. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Hunting and 1 mentions for Ashtead Technology. Hunting's average media sentiment score of 0.21 beat Ashtead Technology's score of -0.49 indicating that Hunting is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ashtead Technology	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Hunting	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, AT or HTG?

Ashtead Technology has a beta of 0.28, suggesting that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hunting has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AT or HTG a better dividend stock?

Ashtead Technology pays an annual dividend of GBX 1 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Hunting pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Ashtead Technology pays out 3.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hunting pays out 13.3% 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.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AT or HTG?

75.9% of Ashtead Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.2% of Hunting shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Ashtead Technology shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.2% of Hunting shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Hunting beats Ashtead Technology on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.