FW Thorpe (TFW) Competitors

Smart Metering Systems (LON:SMS) and FW Thorpe (LON:TFW) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, profitability and dividends.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, SMS or TFW?

FW Thorpe has higher revenue and earnings than Smart Metering Systems. Smart Metering Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FW Thorpe, 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
Smart Metering Systems	£135.52M	0.00	£14.87M	£0.11	N/A
FW Thorpe	£176.56M	1.91	£24.42M	£20.64	13.85

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SMS or TFW?

Smart Metering Systems received 203 more outperform votes than FW Thorpe when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 78.93% of users gave Smart Metering Systems an outperform vote while only 70.59% of users gave FW Thorpe an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Smart Metering Systems	Outperform Votes 251 78.93%	Underperform Votes 67 21.07%
FW Thorpe	Outperform Votes 48 70.59%	Underperform Votes 20 29.41%

Which has more volatility and risk, SMS or TFW?

Smart Metering Systems has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FW Thorpe has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SMS or TFW a better dividend stock?

Smart Metering Systems pays an annual dividend of GBX 30 per share. FW Thorpe pays an annual dividend of GBX 7 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Smart Metering Systems pays out 27,272.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. FW Thorpe pays out 33.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FW Thorpe is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer SMS or TFW?

In the previous week, FW Thorpe had 2 more articles in the media than Smart Metering Systems. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for FW Thorpe and 0 mentions for Smart Metering Systems. Smart Metering Systems' average media sentiment score of 0.40 beat FW Thorpe's score of 0.09 indicating that Smart Metering Systems is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Smart Metering Systems	Neutral
FW Thorpe	Neutral

Is SMS or TFW more profitable?

FW Thorpe has a net margin of 13.83% compared to Smart Metering Systems' net margin of 10.97%. FW Thorpe's return on equity of 14.28% beat Smart Metering Systems' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smart Metering Systems	10.97%	2.73%	2.79%
FW Thorpe	13.83%	14.28%	8.02%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SMS or TFW?

74.9% of Smart Metering Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.9% of FW Thorpe shares are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of Smart Metering Systems shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 70.8% of FW Thorpe shares are held by company 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.

Summary

FW Thorpe beats Smart Metering Systems on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.