Rollins (ROL) Competitors

Rollins (NYSE:ROL) and Waste Management (NYSE:WM) are both large-cap environmental & facilities services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ROL or WM?

51.8% of Rollins shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Waste Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Rollins shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Waste Management shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, ROL or WM?

Waste Management has higher revenue and earnings than Rollins. Waste Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Rollins, 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
Rollins	$3.39B	8.07	$466.38M	$0.99	57.01
Waste Management	$22.06B	4.13	$2.75B	$6.63	34.15

Is ROL or WM more profitable?

Rollins has a net margin of 13.78% compared to Waste Management's net margin of 11.67%. Rollins' return on equity of 37.31% beat Waste Management's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rollins	13.78%	37.31%	17.22%
Waste Management	11.67%	35.67%	7.31%

Does the media favor ROL or WM?

In the previous week, Waste Management had 34 more articles in the media than Rollins. MarketBeat recorded 68 mentions for Waste Management and 34 mentions for Rollins. Rollins' average media sentiment score of 0.49 beat Waste Management's score of 0.41 indicating that Rollins is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Rollins	11 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Waste Management	28 Very Positive mention(s)	12 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	10 Negative mention(s)	7 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is ROL or WM a better dividend stock?

Rollins pays an annual dividend of $0.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Waste Management pays an annual dividend of $3.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Rollins pays out 66.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Waste Management pays out 49.8% 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. Rollins has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Waste Management has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Waste Management is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer ROL or WM?

Rollins currently has a consensus price target of $59.90, suggesting a potential upside of 6.13%. Waste Management has a consensus price target of $251.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.85%. Given Waste Management's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Waste Management is more favorable than Rollins.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rollins	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Waste Management	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Which has more volatility & risk, ROL or WM?

Rollins has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waste Management has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Waste Management beats Rollins on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.