Sprott (SII) Competitors

Sprott (NYSE:SII) and Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Which has more risk and volatility, SII or HWC?

Sprott has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, SII or HWC?

Hancock Whitney has higher revenue and earnings than Sprott. Hancock Whitney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sprott, 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
Sprott	$168.35M	6.65	$41.80M	$1.90	22.84
Hancock Whitney	$1.44B	2.85	$460.82M	$5.28	9.00

Is SII or HWC more profitable?

Sprott has a net margin of 27.38% compared to Hancock Whitney's net margin of 22.40%. Sprott's return on equity of 15.02% beat Hancock Whitney's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sprott	27.38%	15.02%	11.91%
Hancock Whitney	22.40%	11.56%	1.32%

Do analysts prefer SII or HWC?

Hancock Whitney has a consensus target price of $62.56, indicating a potential upside of 31.61%. Given Hancock Whitney's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Sprott.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sprott	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.33
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SII or HWC?

Hancock Whitney received 49 more outperform votes than Sprott when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 48.41% of users gave Hancock Whitney an outperform vote while only 41.38% of users gave Sprott an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Sprott	Outperform Votes 12 41.38%	Underperform Votes 17 58.62%
Hancock Whitney	Outperform Votes 61 48.41%	Underperform Votes 65 51.59%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of SII or HWC?

28.3% of Sprott shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.3% of Sprott shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to SII or HWC?

In the previous week, Hancock Whitney had 12 more articles in the media than Sprott. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Hancock Whitney and 2 mentions for Sprott. Hancock Whitney's average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat Sprott's score of 0.45 indicating that Hancock Whitney is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sprott	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Hancock Whitney	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is SII or HWC a better dividend stock?

Sprott pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Sprott pays out 63.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 34.1% 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. Hancock Whitney is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Sprott on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.