WH Smith (SMWH) Competitors

Diploma (LON:DPLM) and WH Smith (LON:SMWH) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in DPLM or SMWH?

81.5% of Diploma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.2% of WH Smith shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Diploma shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of WH Smith shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is DPLM or SMWH more profitable?

Diploma has a net margin of 9.25% compared to WH Smith's net margin of 3.44%. WH Smith's return on equity of 17.78% beat Diploma's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Diploma	9.25%	13.18%	8.32%
WH Smith	3.44%	17.78%	6.62%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, DPLM or SMWH?

Diploma has higher earnings, but lower revenue than WH Smith. WH Smith is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Diploma, 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
Diploma	£1.25B	4.71	£115.40M	£87.00	50.62
WH Smith	£1.83B	0.76	£63.01M	£48.47	22.32

Is DPLM or SMWH a better dividend stock?

Diploma pays an annual dividend of GBX 57 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. WH Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Diploma pays out 65.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WH Smith pays out 66.0% 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 more risk & volatility, DPLM or SMWH?

Diploma has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WH Smith has a beta of 1.67, suggesting that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor DPLM or SMWH?

In the previous week, WH Smith had 2 more articles in the media than Diploma. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for WH Smith and 0 mentions for Diploma. WH Smith's average media sentiment score of 0.30 beat Diploma's score of 0.00 indicating that WH Smith is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Diploma	Neutral
WH Smith	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DPLM or SMWH?

WH Smith received 199 more outperform votes than Diploma when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.63% of users gave WH Smith an outperform vote while only 61.71% of users gave Diploma an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Diploma	Outperform Votes 282 61.71%	Underperform Votes 175 38.29%
WH Smith	Outperform Votes 481 62.63%	Underperform Votes 287 37.37%

Do analysts rate DPLM or SMWH?

Diploma presently has a consensus price target of GBX 4,567.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.71%. WH Smith has a consensus price target of GBX 1,456.67, suggesting a potential upside of 34.63%. Given WH Smith's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe WH Smith is more favorable than Diploma.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Diploma	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
WH Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Summary

WH Smith beats Diploma on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.