Nelnet (NNI) Competitors

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) and Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Is SLM or NNI a better dividend stock?

SLM pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Nelnet pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. SLM pays out 18.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nelnet pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SLM has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. SLM is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend SLM or NNI?

SLM presently has a consensus target price of $32.30, suggesting a potential downside of 4.64%. Nelnet has a consensus target price of $98.00, suggesting a potential downside of 19.93%. Given SLM's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe SLM is more favorable than Nelnet.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SLM	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Nelnet	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in SLM or NNI?

98.9% of SLM shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Nelnet shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of SLM shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 50.9% of Nelnet shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, SLM or NNI?

SLM has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nelnet has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SLM or NNI more profitable?

SLM has a net margin of 21.05% compared to Nelnet's net margin of 9.44%. SLM's return on equity of 31.25% beat Nelnet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SLM	21.05%	31.25%	2.12%
Nelnet	9.44%	6.00%	1.39%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, SLM or NNI?

SLM has higher revenue and earnings than Nelnet. SLM is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nelnet, 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
SLM	$2.62B	2.71	$608.33M	$2.78	12.18
Nelnet	$2.14B	2.08	$184.04M	$5.29	23.14

Does the media prefer SLM or NNI?

In the previous week, SLM had 4 more articles in the media than Nelnet. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for SLM and 2 mentions for Nelnet. Nelnet's average media sentiment score of 0.45 beat SLM's score of 0.00 indicating that Nelnet is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SLM	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Nelnet	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

SLM beats Nelnet on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.