Reviewing B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) and Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT)

B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) and Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares B. Riley Financial and Copart’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
B. Riley Financial	-80.52%	-3,036.77%	-16.58%
Copart	32.21%	18.20%	16.36%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares B. Riley Financial and Copart”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
B. Riley Financial	$1.65 billion	0.05	-$99.91 million	($27.77)	-0.11
Copart	$4.24 billion	11.00	$1.36 billion	$1.52	31.70

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

Risk and Volatility

B. Riley Financial has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Copart has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

50.2% of B. Riley Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.8% of Copart shares are held by institutional investors. 32.9% of B. Riley Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Copart shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for B. Riley Financial and Copart, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
B. Riley Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
Copart	0	2	1	0	2.33

Copart has a consensus target price of $55.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.19%. Given Copart’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Copart is more favorable than B. Riley Financial.

Summary

Copart beats B. Riley Financial on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About B. Riley Financial

B. Riley Financial, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides financial services to corporate, institutional, and high net worth clients in North America, Australia, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through six segments: Capital Markets, Wealth Management, Financial Consulting, Auction and Liquidation, Communications, and Consumer. The Capital Markets segments offers investment banking, equity research, institutional sales and trading, securities lending, fund and asset management, direct lending, venture capital, proprietary trading, and investment services; merger and acquisition, restructuring advisory, and recapitalization services; public and private equity offerings; and debt financing solutions. This segment also trades in equity securities. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management and tax services. The Financial Consulting segment offers bankruptcy restructuring and turnaround management, forensic accounting and litigation support, valuation and appraisal, and real estate services. The Auction and Liquidation Segment provides auction and liquidation services. The Communications segment offers dial-up, mobile broadband and digital subscriber line services under the NetZero and Juno brands; cloud communication services; VoIP cloud-based technology and communication devices and subscription services through magicJack; and mobile phone voice, text, and data services and devices through Marconi Wireless. The Consumer segment sells laptop and computer accessories. The company was formerly known as Great American Group, Inc. and changed its name to B. Riley Financial, Inc. in November 2014. B. Riley Financial, Inc. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Copart

Copart, Inc. provides online auctions and vehicle remarketing services. It offers a range of services for processing and selling vehicles over the Internet through its Virtual Bidding Third Generation Internet auction-style sales technology on behalf of vehicle sellers, insurance companies, banks and finance companies, charities, and fleet operators and dealers, as well as individual owners. The company’s services include online seller access, salvage estimation, estimating, end-of-life vehicle processing, virtual insured exchange, transportation, vehicle inspection stations, on-demand reporting, motor vehicle regulatory agency processing, flexible vehicle processing programs, buy it now, member network, sales process, and dealer services. Its services also include buying vehicles through CashForCars.com and Copart Direct. The company sells its products principally to licensed vehicle dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used vehicle dealers, and exporters, as well as to the general public. It operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Finland, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Spain. Copart, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.