Montanaro UK Smaller Companies (MTU) Competitors

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies (LON:MTU) and The Scottish Investment Trust (LON:SCIN) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, community ranking and earnings.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MTU or SCIN?

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies received 16 more outperform votes than The Scottish Investment Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.32% of users gave Montanaro UK Smaller Companies an outperform vote while only 64.63% of users gave The Scottish Investment Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Montanaro UK Smaller Companies	Outperform Votes 69 68.32%	Underperform Votes 32 31.68%
The Scottish Investment Trust	Outperform Votes 53 64.63%	Underperform Votes 29 35.37%

Is MTU or SCIN more profitable?

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies has a net margin of 91.45% compared to The Scottish Investment Trust's net margin of 0.00%. Montanaro UK Smaller Companies' return on equity of 13.16% beat The Scottish Investment Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Montanaro UK Smaller Companies	91.45%	13.16%	5.77%
The Scottish Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Is MTU or SCIN a better dividend stock?

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. The Scottish Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.25 per share. Montanaro UK Smaller Companies pays out 31.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Scottish Investment Trust pays out 43.3% 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. Montanaro UK Smaller Companies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of MTU or SCIN?

78.5% of Montanaro UK Smaller Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Montanaro UK Smaller Companies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to MTU or SCIN?

In the previous week, Montanaro UK Smaller Companies had 2 more articles in the media than The Scottish Investment Trust. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Montanaro UK Smaller Companies and 1 mentions for The Scottish Investment Trust. Montanaro UK Smaller Companies' average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat The Scottish Investment Trust's score of 1.02 indicating that Montanaro UK Smaller Companies is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Montanaro UK Smaller Companies	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
The Scottish Investment Trust	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, MTU or SCIN?

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than The Scottish Investment Trust. The Scottish Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Montanaro UK Smaller Companies, 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
Montanaro UK Smaller Companies	£28.80M	5.26	£26.33M	£15.79	5.76
The Scottish Investment Trust	£51.43M	0.00	N/A	£0.57	N/A

Summary

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies beats The Scottish Investment Trust on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.