UIL (UTL) Competitors

UIL (LON:UTL) and Next 15 Group (LON:NFG) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, profitability, dividends, community ranking and earnings.

Does the media refer more to UTL or NFG?

In the previous week, UIL had 8 more articles in the media than Next 15 Group. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for UIL and 0 mentions for Next 15 Group. UIL's average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat Next 15 Group's score of 0.00 indicating that UIL is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
UIL	Positive
Next 15 Group	Neutral

Which has more risk & volatility, UTL or NFG?

UIL has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Next 15 Group has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is UTL or NFG more profitable?

Next 15 Group has a net margin of 8.28% compared to UIL's net margin of 0.00%. Next 15 Group's return on equity of 43.44% beat UIL's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UIL	N/A	-16.40%	-3.94%
Next 15 Group	8.28%	43.44%	9.17%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in UTL or NFG?

UIL received 74 more outperform votes than Next 15 Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 92.86% of users gave Next 15 Group an outperform vote while only 76.99% of users gave UIL an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
UIL	Outperform Votes 87 76.99%	Underperform Votes 26 23.01%
Next 15 Group	Outperform Votes 13 92.86%	Underperform Votes 1 7.14%

Do analysts prefer UTL or NFG?

Next 15 Group has a consensus price target of GBX 885, indicating a potential upside of 145.83%. Given Next 15 Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Next 15 Group is more favorable than UIL.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UIL	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Next 15 Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in UTL or NFG?

68.0% of Next 15 Group shares are held by institutional investors. 78.0% of UIL shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Next 15 Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, UTL or NFG?

Next 15 Group has higher revenue and earnings than UIL. UIL is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Next 15 Group, 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
UIL	-£16.02M	-6.22	-£25.02M	-£0.30	-396.67
Next 15 Group	£733.84M	0.50	£60.78M	£0.58	620.69

Is UTL or NFG a better dividend stock?

UIL pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Next 15 Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 15 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. UIL pays out -2,666.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Next 15 Group pays out 2,586.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. UIL is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Next 15 Group beats UIL on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.