Rentokil Initial (RTO) Competitors

WPP (LON:WPP) and Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) are both mid-cap communication services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, community ranking, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Do analysts recommend WPP or RTO?

WPP currently has a consensus price target of GBX 955, suggesting a potential upside of 77.91%. Rentokil Initial has a consensus price target of GBX 488.33, suggesting a potential upside of 39.52%. Given WPP's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe WPP is more favorable than Rentokil Initial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WPP	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Rentokil Initial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WPP or RTO?

WPP received 713 more outperform votes than Rentokil Initial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 78.55% of users gave WPP an outperform vote while only 65.70% of users gave Rentokil Initial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
WPP	Outperform Votes 1326 78.55%	Underperform Votes 362 21.45%
Rentokil Initial	Outperform Votes 613 65.70%	Underperform Votes 320 34.30%

Which has more volatility and risk, WPP or RTO?

WPP has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rentokil Initial has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WPP or RTO more profitable?

Rentokil Initial has a net margin of 7.25% compared to WPP's net margin of 1.37%. Rentokil Initial's return on equity of 9.50% beat WPP's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WPP	1.37%	5.92%	1.53%
Rentokil Initial	7.25%	9.50%	4.11%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, WPP or RTO?

Rentokil Initial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than WPP. Rentokil Initial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WPP, 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
WPP	£14.89B	0.39	£203.92M	£18.93	28.36
Rentokil Initial	£5.38B	1.63	£389.49M	£15.59	22.45

Does the media favor WPP or RTO?

In the previous week, WPP had 3 more articles in the media than Rentokil Initial. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for WPP and 2 mentions for Rentokil Initial. Rentokil Initial's average media sentiment score of 0.49 beat WPP's score of -0.22 indicating that Rentokil Initial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
WPP	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Rentokil Initial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is WPP or RTO a better dividend stock?

WPP pays an annual dividend of GBX 39 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.3%. Rentokil Initial pays an annual dividend of GBX 9 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. WPP pays out 206.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Rentokil Initial pays out 57.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in WPP or RTO?

65.3% of WPP shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.0% of Rentokil Initial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of WPP shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Rentokil Initial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

WPP beats Rentokil Initial on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.