Contrasting Eagle Point Credit (NYSE:ECC) and Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP)

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) and Eagle Point Credit (NYSE:ECC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and Eagle Point Credit’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameriprise Financial	19.28%	63.04%	2.07%
Eagle Point Credit	12.33%	13.47%	8.14%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and Eagle Point Credit”s gross 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	2.18	$3.56 billion	$36.36	12.15
Eagle Point Credit	$179.77 million	2.53	$85.49 million	$0.19	18.92

Ameriprise Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Eagle Point Credit. Ameriprise Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Eagle Point Credit, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.5% of Eagle Point Credit shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Eagle Point Credit shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eagle Point Credit has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Ameriprise Financial and Eagle Point Credit, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameriprise Financial	1	5	4	1	2.45
Eagle Point Credit	1	2	3	0	2.33

Ameriprise Financial presently has a consensus target price of $555.67, suggesting a potential upside of 25.74%. Eagle Point Credit has a consensus target price of $6.67, suggesting a potential upside of 85.44%. Given Eagle Point Credit’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Eagle Point Credit is more favorable than Ameriprise Financial.

Dividends

Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Eagle Point Credit pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 46.7%. Ameriprise Financial pays out 17.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eagle Point Credit pays out 884.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ameriprise Financial has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Eagle Point Credit on 13 of the 18 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 Eagle Point Credit

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. is a closed ended fund launched and managed by Eagle Point Credit Management LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund invests equity and junior debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations consisting primarily of below investment grade U.S. senior secured loans. Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. was formed on March 24, 2014 and is domiciled in the United States.