Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) and 3i Group (OTCMKTS:TGOPY) Head to Head Analysis

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) and 3i Group (OTCMKTS:TGOPY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Jefferies Financial Group and 3i Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jefferies Financial Group	7.70%	6.59%	1.02%
3i Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Jefferies Financial Group and 3i Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jefferies Financial Group	0	3	1	0	2.25
3i Group	0	1	2	0	2.67

Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus price target of $71.67, indicating a potential upside of 7.43%. Given Jefferies Financial Group’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Jefferies Financial Group is more favorable than 3i Group.

Dividends

Jefferies Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. 3i Group pays an annual dividend of $0.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Jefferies Financial Group pays out 60.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Jefferies Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Jefferies Financial Group and 3i Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Jefferies Financial Group	$7.03 billion	1.96	$743.38 million	$2.65	25.17
3i Group	$6.37 billion	8.39	N/A	N/A	N/A

Jefferies Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than 3i Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

60.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Jefferies Financial Group beats 3i Group on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services. The company also offers financing, securities lending, and other prime brokerage services; equities research, sales, and trading services; wealth management services; and online foreign exchange trading services. In addition, it provides investment grade distressed debt securities, U.S. and European government and agency securities, municipal bonds, leveraged loans, emerging markets debt, and interest rate and credit index derivative products; and manages and offers services to a diverse group of alternative asset management platforms across a spectrum of investment strategies and asset classes. The company was formerly known as Leucadia National Corporation and changed its name to Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in May 2018. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About 3i Group

3i Group plc is a private equity firm specializing in mature companies, growth capital, middle markets, infrastructure, and management leveraged buyouts and buy-ins. The firm also provides infrastructure financing and debt management. For debt management, it invests in senior and mezzanine corporate debt in typically large and private companies in United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, and North America. It makes private equity investments in business and technology services, financial services, consumer, healthcare, consumption and distribution, media and telecom, renewable energy, wind, and industrial technology sector. Within business and technology services, the firm seeks to invest in sub sectors such as testing, inspection and certification; intelligent outsourcing, BPO and consultancy; human capital including staffing, governance, risk and compliance, services to pharmaceutical companies, vertical application software, education and training businesses; facilities management; support services to industrial sectors such as oil and gas and utilities; human resources outsourcing and advising; recruitment; logistics and infrastructure support services including distribution, waste, and rental. In the consumer sector, it focuses on, multi-unit roll out, omni-channel propositions, niche branded consumer goods, polarization, health and wellness, ageing population, millennials, consumer goods; e-commerce; retail; food and drinks; and leisure. In the healthcare sector, the firm focuses on outsourced medical device manufacturing & services, outsourced pharmaceutical manufacturing & services, bioprocessing supply chain, life science tools and diagnostics, wellness & consumer health products, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology including specialty pharma, generics / OTC, drug delivery, and animal health; healthcare Services including activities such as elderly and specialty care, including caring for people in their own homes, in hospital and in community facilities, as well as operational services such as outsourced support, clinical services and B2B contract services; medical devices and technology including devices, medical equipment and consumables, diagnostics, and healthcare IT. In the industrial sector, it focuses on automotive, chemicals, safety and security, construction, building products and materials, energy, electronics and electrical components, flow control and filtration, mobility, packaging, industrial Services incl. industrial software, oil, gas, and power. Through 3i BIFM Limited and 3i Infrastructure plc the firm makes infrastructure investments where it focuses principally on the utilities including energy transmission and storage, electricity and gas distribution, water, power generation, and communication network; transportation including airports, ports, ferries, toll roads, and rail; and social infrastructure sector including primary and secondary PFI, public private partnerships, healthcare, education, and government accommodation. In infrastructure it invests primarily in utilities, transportation and social infrastructure in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Europe, and Ireland. The firm prefers to invest in companies across Europe, France, United States, South America, and Asia. It seeks to make new investments in Northern Europe and North America. The firm typically invests between 5 million ($5.59125 million) and 300 million ($335.475 million) in companies with an enterprise value typically between 100 million ($111.825 million) and 500 million ($559.125 million) and sales value between 80 million ($89.46 million) and 1500 million ($1677.38 million). It seeks to take either majority or minority stakes. It seeks to take a board seat in its portfolio companies with regards to infrastructure investments. The firm invests through a combination of third-party and proprietary capital. It invests through its personal capital. 3i Group plc was founded in 1945 and is based in London, United Kingdom with additional offices across Europe, North America, and Asia.