SThree (STEM) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer STEM or HAS?

SThree presently has a consensus price target of GBX 485, indicating a potential upside of 42.65%. Hays has a consensus price target of GBX 120, indicating a potential upside of 58.94%. Given Hays' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hays is more favorable than SThree.

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

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, STEM or HAS?

SThree has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hays.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SThree	£1.60B	0.28	£56.48M	£0.42	809.52
Hays	£6.95B	0.17	-£4.90M	N/A	N/A

Is STEM or HAS more profitable?

SThree has a net margin of 3.53% compared to Hays' net margin of -0.07%. SThree's return on equity of 26.60% beat Hays' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SThree	3.53%	26.60%	10.67%
Hays	-0.07%	-0.80%	2.27%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in STEM or HAS?

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

Does the media favor STEM or HAS?

In the previous week, SThree had 2 more articles in the media than Hays. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for SThree and 1 mentions for Hays. SThree's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Hays' score of -1.08 indicating that SThree is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SThree	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hays	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in STEM or HAS?

Hays received 851 more outperform votes than SThree when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 84.38% of users gave SThree an outperform vote while only 70.47% of users gave Hays an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SThree	Outperform Votes 27 84.38%	Underperform Votes 5 15.63%
Hays	Outperform Votes 878 70.47%	Underperform Votes 368 29.53%

Which has more risk and volatility, STEM or HAS?

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

Is STEM or HAS a better dividend stock?

SThree pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Hays pays an annual dividend of GBX 3 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. SThree pays out 4,047.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

SThree beats Hays on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.