Reviewing ONEX (OTCMKTS:ONEXF) and Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM)

ONEX (OTCMKTS:ONEXF) and Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

ONEX has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Artisan Partners Asset Management has a beta of 1.76, indicating that its stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ONEX and Artisan Partners Asset Management”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ONEX	$899.00 million	6.40	$617.00 million	$8.87	9.45
Artisan Partners Asset Management	$1.20 billion	2.54	$290.32 million	$4.01	9.39

ONEX has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Artisan Partners Asset Management. Artisan Partners Asset Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ONEX, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

ONEX pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Artisan Partners Asset Management pays an annual dividend of $4.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.7%. ONEX pays out 3.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Artisan Partners Asset Management pays out 100.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.7% of ONEX shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.5% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares ONEX and Artisan Partners Asset Management’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ONEX	68.63%	7.16%	4.75%
Artisan Partners Asset Management	24.26%	73.73%	21.39%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for ONEX and Artisan Partners Asset Management, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ONEX	0	1	2	0	2.67
Artisan Partners Asset Management	1	5	1	0	2.00

Artisan Partners Asset Management has a consensus price target of $40.60, indicating a potential upside of 7.80%. Given Artisan Partners Asset Management’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Artisan Partners Asset Management is more favorable than ONEX.

About ONEX

Onex Corporation is a private equity firm specializing in acquisitions and platform acquisitions. The firm makes investments in buyouts, large- middle market, large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap market and distressed companies. It also invests in recapitalization, growth capital, corporate carve-outs of subsidiaries and mission-critical supply divisions from multinational corporations, operational restructurings of undervalued businesses, and builds up. The firm seeks to invest in technology, electronics manufacturing services, industrial, aerospace, healthcare, retail, restaurants, industrials products, customer care services, metal services, building products, entertainment, gaming, cabinetry products, commercial vehicles, commercial and investment banking, financial services, commercial and multi-unit residential real estate. It invests in global businesses headquartered in North America, including United States and Canada, or Europe. The firm seeks to invest between $125 million and $1 billion in companies that have minimum revenues of $300 million. It does not consider size if the company is in an industry in which the firm already has presence. The firm seeks to make direct as well as co-investments through managed private equity, real estate and credit funds. It seeks to acquire a control position in its portfolio companies. Onex Corporation was founded in 1984 and is based in Toronto, Canada with additional offices in New York, New York; Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts and London, United Kingdom.

About Artisan Partners Asset Management

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. is publicly owned investment manager. It provides its services to pension and profit sharing plans, trusts, endowments, foundations, charitable organizations, government entities, private funds and non-U.S. funds, as well as mutual funds, non-U.S. funds and collective trusts. It manages separate client-focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It invests in growth and value stocks of companies across all market capitalization. For fixed income component of its portfolio the firm invests in non-investment grade corporate bonds and secured and unsecured loans. It employs fundamental analysis to create its portfolios. Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with additional offices in Atlanta, Georgia; New York City; San Francisco, California; Leawood, Kansas; and London, United Kingdom.