WH Smith (SMWH) Competitors

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

Which has stronger 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	£1.26B	4.75	£116.10M	£0.86	5,193.02
WH Smith	£1.86B	0.88	£64M	£0.49	2,557.14

Does the media prefer DPLM or SMWH?

In the previous week, Diploma had 4 more articles in the media than WH Smith. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Diploma and 9 mentions for WH Smith. WH Smith's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat Diploma's score of 0.56 indicating that WH Smith is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Diploma	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
WH Smith	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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 2.6%. Diploma pays out 6,627.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. WH Smith pays out 6,530.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. WH Smith is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

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 22.29% beat Diploma's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Diploma	9.25%	13.39%	8.32%
WH Smith	3.44%	22.29%	6.62%

Do analysts recommend DPLM or SMWH?

Diploma presently has a consensus price target of GBX 4,616.67, suggesting a potential upside of 3.37%. WH Smith has a consensus price target of GBX 1,456.67, suggesting a potential upside of 16.25%. Given WH Smith's higher probable 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)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
WH Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer DPLM or SMWH?

WH Smith received 198 more outperform votes than Diploma when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.58% of users gave WH Smith an outperform vote while only 61.98% of users gave Diploma an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Diploma	Outperform Votes 282 61.98%	Underperform Votes 173 38.02%
WH Smith	Outperform Votes 480 62.58%	Underperform Votes 287 37.42%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of DPLM or SMWH?

81.5% of Diploma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.2% of WH Smith shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Diploma shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of WH Smith shares are owned 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, DPLM or SMWH?

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

Summary

WH Smith beats Diploma on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.