Ellington Credit (EARN) Competitors

Associated Capital Group (NYSE:AC) and Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Do analysts recommend AC or EARN?

Ellington Credit has a consensus target price of $6.50, suggesting a potential upside of 27.08%. Given Ellington Credit's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ellington Credit is more favorable than Associated Capital Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Associated Capital Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Ellington Credit	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AC or EARN?

8.1% of Associated Capital Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.4% of Ellington Credit shares are owned by institutional investors. 87.6% of Associated Capital Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Ellington Credit shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is AC or EARN more profitable?

Associated Capital Group has a net margin of 336.45% compared to Ellington Credit's net margin of 226.01%. Ellington Credit's return on equity of 15.81% beat Associated Capital Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Associated Capital Group	336.45%	4.88%	4.62%
Ellington Credit	226.01%	15.81%	2.71%

Which has more risk & volatility, AC or EARN?

Associated Capital Group has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ellington Credit has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AC or EARN a better dividend stock?

Associated Capital Group pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Ellington Credit pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.8%. Associated Capital Group pays out 9.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ellington Credit pays out 320.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, AC or EARN?

Associated Capital Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ellington Credit. Associated Capital Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ellington Credit, 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
Associated Capital Group	$13.18M	55.11	$44.33M	$2.07	16.58
Ellington Credit	$15.88M	12.10	$4.56M	$0.30	17.05

Does the media prefer AC or EARN?

In the previous week, Ellington Credit had 6 more articles in the media than Associated Capital Group. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Ellington Credit and 1 mentions for Associated Capital Group. Ellington Credit's average media sentiment score of 0.72 beat Associated Capital Group's score of 0.32 indicating that Ellington Credit is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Associated Capital Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ellington Credit	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AC or EARN?

Ellington Credit received 44 more outperform votes than Associated Capital Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 52.24% of users gave Associated Capital Group an outperform vote while only 51.19% of users gave Ellington Credit an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Associated Capital Group	Outperform Votes 128 52.24%	Underperform Votes 117 47.76%
Ellington Credit	Outperform Votes 172 51.19%	Underperform Votes 164 48.81%

Summary

Ellington Credit beats Associated Capital Group on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.