Head to Head Comparison: KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) & Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC)

Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC) and KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Sound Point Meridian Capital and KKR & Co. Inc., as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sound Point Meridian Capital	0	2	2	0	2.50
KKR & Co. Inc.	1	3	11	2	2.82

Sound Point Meridian Capital currently has a consensus price target of $18.90, indicating a potential upside of 43.84%. KKR & Co. Inc. has a consensus price target of $156.57, indicating a potential upside of 58.24%. Given KKR & Co. Inc.’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe KKR & Co. Inc. is more favorable than Sound Point Meridian Capital.

Profitability

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and KKR & Co. Inc.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A
KKR & Co. Inc.	13.84%	6.12%	1.06%

Risk and Volatility

Sound Point Meridian Capital has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KKR & Co. Inc. has a beta of 1.99, meaning that its share price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Sound Point Meridian Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 22.8%. KKR & Co. Inc. pays an annual dividend of $0.74 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Sound Point Meridian Capital pays out 1,500.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. KKR & Co. Inc. pays out 31.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. KKR & Co. Inc. has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

76.3% of KKR & Co. Inc. shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Sound Point Meridian Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.3% of KKR & Co. Inc. shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and KKR & Co. Inc.”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.20	65.70
KKR & Co. Inc.	$21.88 billion	4.03	$3.08 billion	$2.36	41.93

KKR & Co. Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Sound Point Meridian Capital. KKR & Co. Inc. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sound Point Meridian Capital, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

KKR & Co. Inc. beats Sound Point Meridian Capital on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sound Point Meridian Capital

Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end management investment company. Its investment objective is to generate high current income, with a secondary objective to generate capital appreciation, by investing primarily in third-party collateralized loan obligation equity and mezzanine tranches. Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is based in NEW YORK.

About KKR & Co. Inc.

KKR & Co., Inc. operates as an investment firm. It offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. The firm’s business segments include Asset Management and Insurance Business. The Asset Management segment engages in providing private equity, real assets, credit and liquid strategies, capital markets, and principal activities. The Insurance Business segment offers retirement, life insurance and reinsurance solutions to clients across individual and institutional markets. The company was founded by Henry Kravis, George R. Roberts, and Jerome Kholberg on May 1, 1976 and is headquartered in New York, NY.