Head-To-Head Analysis: Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) vs. Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI)

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) and Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and Barings Corporate Investors”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameriprise Financial	$18.48 billion	2.57	$3.56 billion	$40.21	13.13
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Ameriprise Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Corporate Investors.

Profitability

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and Barings Corporate Investors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameriprise Financial	20.57%	62.88%	2.12%
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barings Corporate Investors has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Ameriprise Financial and Barings Corporate Investors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameriprise Financial	1	5	4	1	2.45
Barings Corporate Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00

Ameriprise Financial currently has a consensus target price of $553.67, indicating a potential upside of 4.88%. Given Ameriprise Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ameriprise Financial is more favorable than Barings Corporate Investors.

Dividends

Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Barings Corporate Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.4%. Ameriprise Financial pays out 16.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameriprise Financial has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Barings Corporate Investors shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Barings Corporate Investors on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services to individual and institutional clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Advice & Wealth Management, Asset Management, Retirement & Protection Solutions, and Corporate & Other. The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides financial planning and advice; brokerage products and services for retail and institutional clients; discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory accounts; mutual funds; insurance and annuities products; cash management and banking products; and face-amount certificates. The Asset Management segment offers investment management, advice, and products to retail, high net worth, and institutional clients through third-party financial institutions, advisor networks, direct retail, and its institutional sales force under the Columbia Threadneedle Investments brand name. This segment products include U.S. mutual funds and their non-U.S. equivalents, exchange-traded funds, variable product funds underlying insurance, and annuity separate accounts; and institutional asset management products, such as traditional asset classes, separately managed accounts, individually managed accounts, collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds, collective funds, and property and infrastructure funds. The Retirement & Protection Solutions segment provides variable annuity products, as well as life and disability income insurance products to retail clients. The company was formerly known as American Express Financial Corporation and changed its name to Ameriprise Financial, Inc. in September 2005. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About Barings Corporate Investors

Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in securities of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in a portfolio of privately placed, below-investment grade, long term corporate debt obligations. The fund also invests in marketable investment grade debt securities, other marketable debt securities, and marketable common stocks. It was formerly known as Babson Capital Corporate Investors. Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust was formed in 1971 and is domiciled in the United States.