SThree (STEM) Competitors

Hays (LON:HAS) and SThree (LON:STEM) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, risk and earnings.

Do analysts rate HAS or STEM?

Hays presently has a consensus target price of GBX 120, indicating a potential upside of 72.04%. SThree has a consensus target price of GBX 345, indicating a potential upside of 44.33%. Given Hays' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Hays is more favorable than SThree.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hays	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
SThree	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has more volatility & risk, HAS or STEM?

Hays has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SThree has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HAS or STEM more profitable?

SThree has a net margin of 3.33% compared to Hays' net margin of -0.07%. SThree's return on equity of 20.90% beat Hays' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hays	-0.07%	-0.84%	2.27%
SThree	3.33%	20.90%	10.67%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HAS or STEM?

91.2% of Hays shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.8% of SThree shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Hays shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of SThree shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is HAS or STEM a better dividend stock?

Hays pays an annual dividend of GBX 3 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. SThree pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. Hays pays out -962.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SThree pays out 45.0% 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HAS or STEM?

Hays received 849 more outperform votes than SThree when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 82.86% of users gave SThree an outperform vote while only 70.47% of users gave Hays an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hays	Outperform Votes 878 70.47%	Underperform Votes 368 29.53%
SThree	Outperform Votes 29 82.86%	Underperform Votes 6 17.14%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, HAS or STEM?

SThree has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Hays. Hays is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SThree, 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
Hays	£6.91B	0.16	-£4.87M	-£0.31	-223.76
SThree	£1.47B	0.21	£48.77M	£37.80	6.32

Does the media refer more to HAS or STEM?

In the previous week, SThree had 1 more articles in the media than Hays. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for SThree and 0 mentions for Hays. SThree's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat Hays' score of 0.00 indicating that SThree is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Hays	Neutral
SThree	Positive

Summary

SThree beats Hays on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.