Mears Group (MER) Competitors

XPS Pensions Group (LON:XPS) and Mears Group (LON:MER) are both small-cap consumer cyclical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation and risk.

Is XPS or MER more profitable?

XPS Pensions Group has a net margin of 27.16% compared to Mears Group's net margin of 3.67%. XPS Pensions Group's return on equity of 32.32% beat Mears Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
XPS Pensions Group	27.16%	32.32%	7.60%
Mears Group	3.67%	21.06%	5.86%

Do analysts rate XPS or MER?

XPS Pensions Group presently has a consensus price target of GBX 356.50, indicating a potential upside of 7.06%. Mears Group has a consensus price target of GBX 420, indicating a potential upside of 16.02%. Given Mears Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mears Group is more favorable than XPS Pensions Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
XPS Pensions Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Mears Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media refer more to XPS or MER?

In the previous week, XPS Pensions Group had 2 more articles in the media than Mears Group. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for XPS Pensions Group and 0 mentions for Mears Group. XPS Pensions Group's average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat Mears Group's score of 0.00 indicating that XPS Pensions Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
XPS Pensions Group	Positive
Mears Group	Neutral

Which has more risk and volatility, XPS or MER?

XPS Pensions Group has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mears Group has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer XPS or MER?

Mears Group received 240 more outperform votes than XPS Pensions Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 76.10% of users gave XPS Pensions Group an outperform vote while only 75.05% of users gave Mears Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
XPS Pensions Group	Outperform Votes 121 76.10%	Underperform Votes 38 23.90%
Mears Group	Outperform Votes 361 75.05%	Underperform Votes 120 24.95%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in XPS or MER?

87.3% of XPS Pensions Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 102.0% of Mears Group shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of XPS Pensions Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Mears Group shares are held by 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.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, XPS or MER?

XPS Pensions Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Mears Group. Mears Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than XPS Pensions Group, 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
XPS Pensions Group	£199.43M	3.45	£54.17M	£0.25	1,332.00
Mears Group	£1.14B	0.29	£41.93M	£0.41	882.93

Is XPS or MER a better dividend stock?

XPS Pensions Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 10 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Mears Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. XPS Pensions Group pays out 4,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mears Group pays out 3,414.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mears Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

XPS Pensions Group beats Mears Group on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.