Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) vs. Maase (NASDAQ:MAAS) Critical Review

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) and Maase (NASDAQ:MAAS) are both financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Piper Sandler Companies and Maase, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Piper Sandler Companies	1	2	2	1	2.50
Maase	0	0	0	0	0.00

Piper Sandler Companies currently has a consensus price target of $389.67, indicating a potential upside of 22.87%. Given Piper Sandler Companies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Piper Sandler Companies is more favorable than Maase.

Volatility & Risk

Piper Sandler Companies has a beta of 1.53, indicating that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Maase has a beta of -0.6, indicating that its share price is 160% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Piper Sandler Companies and Maase”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Piper Sandler Companies	$1.90 billion	2.95	$281.33 million	$15.81	20.06
Maase	$109.05 million	0.88	-$27.36 million	N/A	N/A

Piper Sandler Companies has higher revenue and earnings than Maase.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.8% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 87.6% of Maase shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Piper Sandler Companies and Maase’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Piper Sandler Companies	14.77%	22.50%	15.90%
Maase	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Piper Sandler Companies beats Maase on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Piper Sandler Companies

Piper Sandler Companies operates as an investment bank and institutional securities firm that serves corporations, private equity groups, public entities, non-profit entities, and institutional investors in the United States and internationally. The company offers investment banking and institutional sales, trading, and research services for various equity and fixed income products. It provides advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, equity private placements, and debt and restructuring advisory; raises capital through equity and debt financings; underwrites municipal issuances; and offers municipal financial advisory and loan placement services, as well as various over-the-counter derivative products. The company also offers public finance investment banking services that focus on state and local governments, and cultural and social service non-profit entities, as well as the education, healthcare, hospitality, senior living, and transportation sectors. In addition, it provides equity and fixed income advisory and trade execution services for institutional investors, and government and non-profit entities. Further, the company is involved in the alternative asset management funds merchant banking and healthcare to invest firm capital and to manage capital from outside investors, as well as trading activities. The company was formerly known as Piper Jaffray Companies and changed its name to Piper Sandler Companies in January 2020. Piper Sandler Companies was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About Maase

Puyi Inc. provides third-party wealth management services in China. The company distributes publicly raised fund and privately raised securities investment fund products through online and offline. It also provides asset management services that include managing fund of funds and non-performing loan funds; and corporate financing services. Puyi Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Guangzhou, China.