Maui Land & Pineapple (MLP) Competitors

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) and Maui Land & Pineapple (NYSE:MLP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility and risk, EFC or MLP?

Ellington Financial has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Maui Land & Pineapple has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, EFC or MLP?

Ellington Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Maui Land & Pineapple. Maui Land & Pineapple is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ellington Financial, 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
Ellington Financial	$136.41M	9.18	$145.86M	$1.41	9.39
Maui Land & Pineapple	$11.56M	29.91	-$7.39M	-$0.75	-23.36

Is EFC or MLP more profitable?

Ellington Financial has a net margin of 101.59% compared to Maui Land & Pineapple's net margin of -98.43%. Ellington Financial's return on equity of 12.06% beat Maui Land & Pineapple's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ellington Financial	101.59%	12.06%	0.95%
Maui Land & Pineapple	-98.43%	-45.76%	-31.65%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of EFC or MLP?

55.6% of Ellington Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.6% of Maui Land & Pineapple shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Ellington Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 65.9% of Maui Land & Pineapple 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.

Does the media prefer EFC or MLP?

In the previous week, Ellington Financial had 3 more articles in the media than Maui Land & Pineapple. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Ellington Financial and 4 mentions for Maui Land & Pineapple. Maui Land & Pineapple's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat Ellington Financial's score of 0.66 indicating that Maui Land & Pineapple is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ellington Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Maui Land & Pineapple	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer EFC or MLP?

Ellington Financial presently has a consensus target price of $14.30, suggesting a potential upside of 7.97%. Given Ellington Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ellington Financial is more favorable than Maui Land & Pineapple.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ellington Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Maui Land & Pineapple	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Summary

Ellington Financial beats Maui Land & Pineapple on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.