Critical Survey: Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) and OFS Credit (NASDAQ:OCCI)

OFS Credit (NASDAQ:OCCI) and Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for OFS Credit and Franklin Resources, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OFS Credit	0	0	0	0	0.00
Franklin Resources	2	3	4	1	2.40

Franklin Resources has a consensus target price of $32.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.79%. Given Franklin Resources’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Franklin Resources is more favorable than OFS Credit.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares OFS Credit and Franklin Resources”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OFS Credit	$44.15 million	1.60	-$35.83 million	($1.22)	-1.97
Franklin Resources	$8.77 billion	1.93	$524.90 million	$1.31	24.87

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

Risk & Volatility

OFS Credit has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Resources has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

23.8% of OFS Credit shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.6% of Franklin Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of OFS Credit shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of Franklin Resources shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

OFS Credit pays an annual dividend of $1.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 48.7%. Franklin Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. OFS Credit pays out -95.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Franklin Resources pays out 100.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Franklin Resources has raised its dividend for 45 consecutive years. OFS Credit is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares OFS Credit and Franklin Resources’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OFS Credit	N/A	N/A	N/A
Franklin Resources	8.12%	10.58%	4.21%

Summary

Franklin Resources beats OFS Credit on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OFS Credit

OFS Credit Company, Inc. is a fund of OFS Advisor.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries. The firm invests in the public equity, fixed income, and alternative markets. Franklin Resources, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in San Mateo, California with an additional office in Calgary, Canada; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Fort Lauderdale, United States; Hyderabad, India; London, United Kingdom; Rancho Cordova, United states; Shanghai, China; Singapore; Stamford, United States; and Vienna, Austria.