Contrasting JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) & Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

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

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Moelis & Company”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$278.91 billion	2.88	$58.47 billion	$19.49	14.84
Moelis & Company	$1.19 billion	4.50	$136.02 million	$2.54	26.96

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Moelis & Company, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	3	6	13	1	2.52
Moelis & Company	1	4	2	0	2.14

JPMorgan Chase & Co. presently has a consensus price target of $288.68, suggesting a potential downside of 0.18%. Moelis & Company has a consensus price target of $66.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.61%. Given JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe JPMorgan Chase & Co. is more favorable than Moelis & Company.

Dividends

JPMorgan Chase & Co. pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Moelis & Company pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. JPMorgan Chase & Co. pays out 28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Moelis & Company pays out 102.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Moelis & Company has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	20.52%	16.93%	1.30%
Moelis & Company	14.31%	42.72%	17.12%

Volatility & Risk

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moelis & Company has a beta of 1.7, suggesting that its stock price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

71.6% of JPMorgan Chase & Co. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.5% of Moelis & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of JPMorgan Chase & Co. 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 endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

JPMorgan Chase & Co. beats Moelis & Company on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of financial and investment banking services. It focuses on investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. It operates through the following segments: Consumer and Community Banking (CCB), Commercial and Investment Bank (CIB), Asset and Wealth Management (AWM), and Corporate. The CCB segment originates and services mortgage loans. The CIB segment makes markets and services clients across fixed income, foreign exchange, equities, and commodities. The AWM segment provides initial capital investments in products such as mutual funds and capital invested alongside third-party investors. The Corporate segment manages its liquidity, funding, capital, structural interest rate, and foreign exchange risks. The company was founded in 1799 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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.