Rentokil Initial (RTO) Competitors

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) and Rentokil Initial (NYSE:RTO) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility & risk, WCN or RTO?

Waste Connections has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rentokil Initial has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation & earnings, WCN or RTO?

Waste Connections has higher revenue and earnings than Rentokil Initial. Rentokil Initial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waste Connections, 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
Waste Connections	$8.92B	5.55	$617.57M	$2.39	80.28
Rentokil Initial	$5.41B	2.34	$473.93M	$1.51	16.64

Is WCN or RTO more profitable?

Waste Connections has a net margin of 6.92% compared to Rentokil Initial's net margin of 0.00%. Waste Connections' return on equity of 15.54% beat Rentokil Initial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waste Connections	6.92%	15.54%	6.33%
Rentokil Initial	N/A	N/A	N/A

Do analysts recommend WCN or RTO?

Waste Connections presently has a consensus target price of $202.43, indicating a potential upside of 5.50%. Given Waste Connections' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Waste Connections is more favorable than Rentokil Initial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waste Connections	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.87
Rentokil Initial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WCN or RTO?

Waste Connections received 865 more outperform votes than Rentokil Initial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.11% of users gave Waste Connections an outperform vote while only 30.77% of users gave Rentokil Initial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Waste Connections	Outperform Votes 869 75.11%	Underperform Votes 288 24.89%
Rentokil Initial	Outperform Votes 4 30.77%	Underperform Votes 9 69.23%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in WCN or RTO?

86.1% of Waste Connections shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.9% of Rentokil Initial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Waste Connections shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to WCN or RTO?

In the previous week, Waste Connections had 5 more articles in the media than Rentokil Initial. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Waste Connections and 3 mentions for Rentokil Initial. Rentokil Initial's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Waste Connections' score of 1.00 indicating that Rentokil Initial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waste Connections	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Rentokil Initial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WCN or RTO a better dividend stock?

Waste Connections pays an annual dividend of $1.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Rentokil Initial pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Waste Connections pays out 52.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Rentokil Initial pays out 23.8% 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. Rentokil Initial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Waste Connections beats Rentokil Initial on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.