Kier Group (KIE) Competitors

Kier Group (LON:KIE) and Hill & Smith (LON:HILS) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Is KIE or HILS more profitable?

Hill & Smith has a net margin of 9.23% compared to Kier Group's net margin of 1.09%. Hill & Smith's return on equity of 17.39% beat Kier Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kier Group	1.09%	8.23%	2.18%
Hill & Smith	9.23%	17.39%	10.01%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KIE or HILS?

Kier Group received 242 more outperform votes than Hill & Smith when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 81.38% of users gave Kier Group an outperform vote while only 70.56% of users gave Hill & Smith an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kier Group	Outperform Votes 568 81.38%	Underperform Votes 130 18.62%
Hill & Smith	Outperform Votes 326 70.56%	Underperform Votes 136 29.44%

Which has more risk and volatility, KIE or HILS?

Kier Group has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hill & Smith has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in KIE or HILS?

92.3% of Kier Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.9% of Hill & Smith shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of Kier Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Hill & Smith shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer KIE or HILS?

Kier Group presently has a consensus target price of GBX 210, suggesting a potential upside of 61.79%. Hill & Smith has a consensus target price of GBX 2,500, suggesting a potential upside of 37.97%. Given Kier Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Kier Group is more favorable than Hill & Smith.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kier Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Hill & Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has better valuation & earnings, KIE or HILS?

Hill & Smith has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Kier Group. Kier Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hill & Smith, 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
Kier Group	£3.92B	0.14	£42.84M	£9.93	13.07
Hill & Smith	£834.58M	1.75	£77.07M	£95.13	19.05

Is KIE or HILS a better dividend stock?

Kier Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Hill & Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 45 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Kier Group pays out 50.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hill & Smith pays out 47.3% 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.

Does the media prefer KIE or HILS?

In the previous week, Kier Group's average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Hill & Smith'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Kier Group	Neutral
Hill & Smith	Neutral

Summary

Hill & Smith beats Kier Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.