Mears Group (MER) Competitors

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

Which has better valuation & earnings, MER or XPS?

XPS Pensions Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Mears Group	£1.14B	0.29	£41.93M	£0.41	902.44
XPS Pensions Group	£199.43M	3.73	£54.17M	£0.25	1,440.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MER or XPS?

Mears Group received 242 more outperform votes than XPS Pensions Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 76.28% of users gave XPS Pensions Group an outperform vote while only 75.05% of users gave Mears Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mears Group	Outperform Votes 361 75.05%	Underperform Votes 120 24.95%
XPS Pensions Group	Outperform Votes 119 76.28%	Underperform Votes 37 23.72%

Does the media prefer MER or XPS?

In the previous week, Mears Group and Mears Group both had 3 articles in the media. Mears Group's average media sentiment score of 0.67 beat XPS Pensions Group's score of 0.05 indicating that Mears Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mears Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
XPS Pensions Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is MER or XPS a better dividend stock?

Mears Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. XPS Pensions Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. 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. 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk & volatility, MER or XPS?

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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in MER or XPS?

102.0% of Mears Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.3% of XPS Pensions Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.8% of Mears Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of XPS Pensions Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is MER or XPS 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
Mears Group	3.67%	21.06%	5.86%
XPS Pensions Group	27.16%	32.32%	7.60%

Do analysts prefer MER or XPS?

Mears Group presently has a consensus price target of GBX 420, indicating a potential upside of 13.51%. XPS Pensions Group has a consensus price target of GBX 307.33, indicating a potential downside of 14.63%. Given Mears Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Mears Group is more favorable than XPS Pensions Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mears Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
XPS Pensions Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Summary

Mears Group beats XPS Pensions Group on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.