Mercia Asset Management (MERC) Competitors

Mercia Asset Management (LON:MERC) and ScS Group (LON:SCS) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MERC or SCS?

62.7% of Mercia Asset Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.1% of ScS Group shares are held by institutional investors. 27.1% of Mercia Asset Management shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of ScS Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to MERC or SCS?

In the previous week, Mercia Asset Management's average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled ScS Group'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Mercia Asset Management	Neutral
ScS Group	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, MERC or SCS?

Mercia Asset Management has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ScS Group has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MERC or SCS?

ScS Group received 149 more outperform votes than Mercia Asset Management when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.80% of users gave ScS Group an outperform vote while only 69.31% of users gave Mercia Asset Management an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mercia Asset Management	Outperform Votes 70 69.31%	Underperform Votes 31 30.69%
ScS Group	Outperform Votes 219 71.80%	Underperform Votes 86 28.20%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, MERC or SCS?

ScS Group has higher revenue and earnings than Mercia Asset Management. Mercia Asset Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ScS 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
Mercia Asset Management	£30.43M	4.04	-£7.58M	-£0.02	-1,424.00
ScS Group	£325.86M	0.00	£4.45M	£0.12	N/A

Do analysts prefer MERC or SCS?

Mercia Asset Management presently has a consensus target price of GBX 64, suggesting a potential upside of 124.72%. Given Mercia Asset Management's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Mercia Asset Management is more favorable than ScS Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mercia Asset Management	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
ScS Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is MERC or SCS more profitable?

ScS Group has a net margin of 1.37% compared to Mercia Asset Management's net margin of -24.92%. ScS Group's return on equity of 9.30% beat Mercia Asset Management's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mercia Asset Management	-24.92%	-3.87%	0.31%
ScS Group	1.37%	9.30%	2.77%

Is MERC or SCS a better dividend stock?

Mercia Asset Management pays an annual dividend of GBX 1 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. ScS Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 15 per share. Mercia Asset Management pays out -5,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ScS Group pays out 12,500.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mercia Asset Management is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

ScS Group beats Mercia Asset Management on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.