Schroder Japan Trust (SJG) Competitors

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (LON:ASL) and Schroder Japan Trust (LON:SJG) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation and institutional ownership.

Which has more volatility and risk, ASL or SJG?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Schroder Japan Trust has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ASL or SJG more profitable?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has a net margin of 112.81% compared to Schroder Japan Trust's net margin of 99.53%. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's return on equity of 18.22% beat Schroder Japan Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	112.81%	18.22%	11.67%
Schroder Japan Trust	99.53%	18.12%	7.69%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in ASL or SJG?

52.3% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.0% of Schroder Japan Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.4% of Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.3% of Schroder Japan Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ASL or SJG?

Schroder Japan Trust received 5 more outperform votes than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 72.81% of users gave Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust an outperform vote while only 63.77% of users gave Schroder Japan Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Outperform Votes 83 72.81%	Underperform Votes 31 27.19%
Schroder Japan Trust	Outperform Votes 88 63.77%	Underperform Votes 50 36.23%

Is ASL or SJG a better dividend stock?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 42 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Schroder Japan Trust pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust pays out 13.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Schroder Japan Trust pays out 9.8% 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.

Which has better valuation & earnings, ASL or SJG?

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Schroder Japan Trust. Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Schroder Japan Trust, 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
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	£226.05M	4.89	£255.01M	£304.31	4.35
Schroder Japan Trust	£60.80M	4.55	£60.51M	£50.99	4.63

Does the media prefer ASL or SJG?

In the previous week, Schroder Japan Trust had 1 more articles in the media than Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Schroder Japan Trust and 0 mentions for Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust. Schroder Japan Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.55 beat Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust's score of 1.44 indicating that Schroder Japan Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust	Positive
Schroder Japan Trust	Very Positive

Summary

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust beats Schroder Japan Trust on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.