MS INTERNATIONAL (MSI) Competitors

Empiric Student Property (LON:ESP) and MS INTERNATIONAL (LON:MSI) are both small-cap electronic equipment companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Does the media favor ESP or MSI?

In the previous week, MS INTERNATIONAL's average media sentiment score of 0.57 beat Empiric Student Property's score of 0.00 indicating that MS INTERNATIONAL is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Empiric Student Property	Neutral
MS INTERNATIONAL	Positive

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ESP or MSI?

Empiric Student Property has higher earnings, but lower revenue than MS INTERNATIONAL. Empiric Student Property is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MS INTERNATIONAL, 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
Empiric Student Property	£89.58M	7.32	£58.84M	£8.90	11.12
MS INTERNATIONAL	£107.14M	1.69	£11.24M	£71.74	15.89

Which has more risk and volatility, ESP or MSI?

Empiric Student Property has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MS INTERNATIONAL has a beta of 0.04, indicating that its stock price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ESP or MSI?

80.4% of Empiric Student Property shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.2% of MS INTERNATIONAL shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Empiric Student Property shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 56.8% of MS INTERNATIONAL shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is ESP or MSI more profitable?

Empiric Student Property has a net margin of 65.69% compared to MS INTERNATIONAL's net margin of 10.49%. MS INTERNATIONAL's return on equity of 24.42% beat Empiric Student Property's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Empiric Student Property	65.69%	7.23%	2.26%
MS INTERNATIONAL	10.49%	24.42%	8.03%

Is ESP or MSI a better dividend stock?

Empiric Student Property pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. MS INTERNATIONAL pays an annual dividend of GBX 20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Empiric Student Property pays out 44.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MS INTERNATIONAL pays out 27.9% 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.

Summary

MS INTERNATIONAL beats Empiric Student Property on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.