Reviewing Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV) & Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores (NYSE:AVAL)

Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV) and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores (NYSE:AVAL) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Barings Participation Investors and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barings Participation Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00
Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores	0	2	0	0	2.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.2% of Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Barings Participation Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Barings Participation Investors has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Barings Participation Investors and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores	$9.07 billion	0.63	$203.02 million	$0.33	14.59

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Participation Investors.

Profitability

This table compares Barings Participation Investors and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A
Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores	4.61%	5.95%	0.60%

Dividends

Barings Participation Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores pays out 36.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores beats Barings Participation Investors on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Barings Participation Investors

Barings Participation Investors is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in below-investment grade, long-term corporate debt obligations which are directly purchased from its issuers. The fund also seeks to invest in warrants, conversion rights, or other equity related instruments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Standard and Poor's Industrials Composite, Russell 2000 Index, Lehman Brothers U.S. High Yield Index, and Lehman Brothers Intermediate U.S. Credit Index. The fund was formerly known as Babson Capital Participation Investors. Barings Participation Investors was formed on April 7, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. provides a range of financial services and products to public and private sector customers in Colombia and Central America. It offers traditional deposit services and products, including checking accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, and other deposits. The company also provides commercial loans comprising general purpose loans, working capital loans, leases, loans funded by development banks, corporate credit cards, and overdraft loans; consumer loans, such as payroll loans, personal loans, automobile and other vehicle loans, credit cards, overdrafts, leases, and general purpose loans; and microcredit and mortgage loans. In addition, the company offers pension and severance fund management services; investment banking, including services relating to capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and project finance transactions; mobile and online banking services; and bancassurance, insurance, trust, bonded warehousing and brokerage transactions, real estate escrow services, merchandise and document storage and deposit, customs agency, cargo management, surety bond and merchandise distribution services, and payment and collection services. Further, it is involved in equity investments in various sectors, including infrastructure, energy and gas, agribusiness, and hospitality; and treasury operations. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A.