Head-To-Head Review: Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY) versus Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY) and Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Oppenheimer and Moelis & Company”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oppenheimer	$1.54 billion	0.46	$71.56 million	$7.45	9.05
Moelis & Company	$1.19 billion	4.50	$136.02 million	$2.99	22.95

Moelis & Company has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Moelis & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Oppenheimer has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moelis & Company has a beta of 1.9, meaning that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Oppenheimer pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Moelis & Company pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Oppenheimer pays out 9.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Moelis & Company pays out 87.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Oppenheimer has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Moelis & Company has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

32.3% of Oppenheimer shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.5% of Moelis & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. 34.3% of Oppenheimer shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of Moelis & Company shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Oppenheimer and Moelis & Company, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oppenheimer	0	0	1	0	3.00
Moelis & Company	0	7	3	1	2.45

Moelis & Company has a consensus price target of $71.57, indicating a potential upside of 4.29%. Given Moelis & Company’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Moelis & Company is more favorable than Oppenheimer.

Profitability

This table compares Oppenheimer and Moelis & Company’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oppenheimer	5.50%	9.58%	2.34%
Moelis & Company	15.98%	45.62%	18.93%

Summary

Moelis & Company beats Oppenheimer on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. operates as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company provides brokerage services covering corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts; financial and wealth planning services; and margin lending services. It offers asset management services, including separately managed accounts, mutual fund managed accounts, discretionary portfolio management programs, non-discretionary investment advisory and consultation services, alternative investments, portfolio enhancement programs, and institutional taxable fixed income portfolio management strategies and solutions, as well as taxable and non-taxable fixed income portfolios and strategies. In addition, the company offers investment banking services, such as strategic advisory services and capital markets products; merger and acquisition, equities capital market, debt capital market, debt advisory and restructuring, and fund placement services; and institutional equity sales and trading, equity research, equity derivatives and index options, convertible bonds, event driven sales and trading, and portfolio and electronic trading. Further, it provides institutional fixed income sales and trading, fixed income research, public finance, and municipal trading services; and proprietary trading and investment activities. Additionally, the company offers underwriting, market-making, trust, and discount services, as well as a cloud-based financial market. It serves high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, public and private businesses, institutions and corporations, governments, financial sponsors, and domestic and international investors. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Co. operates as a holding company. It engages in the provision of financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a client base including corporations, governments, sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors. The firm focuses on clients including large public multinational corporations, middle market private companies, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs and governments. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.