Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) & PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX) Critical Comparison

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) and PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lazard and PhenixFIN”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lazard	$3.28 billion	1.23	$236.83 million	$2.04	17.81
PhenixFIN	$14.16 million	6.27	$18.62 million	$2.41	19.06

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

54.8% of Lazard shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.3% of PhenixFIN shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Lazard shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 25.2% of PhenixFIN shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Lazard and PhenixFIN’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lazard	6.95%	23.58%	4.63%
PhenixFIN	72.98%	2.95%	1.68%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Lazard and PhenixFIN, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lazard	3	4	4	0	2.09
PhenixFIN	0	0	0	1	4.00

Lazard presently has a consensus target price of $50.38, suggesting a potential upside of 38.63%. Given Lazard’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Lazard is more favorable than PhenixFIN.

Dividends

Lazard pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. PhenixFIN pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Lazard pays out 98.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. PhenixFIN pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Risk & Volatility

Lazard has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PhenixFIN has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lazard beats PhenixFIN on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services. This segment offers its services to corporate, partnership, institutional, government, sovereign, and individual clients to various industry areas, including consumers, financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, power and energy/infrastructure, real estate, technology, telecommunication, and media and entertainment. The Asset Management segment offers a range of investment solutions; investment and wealth management services in equity and fixed income strategies; asset allocation strategies; and alternative investments and private equity funds to corporations, public funds, sovereign entities, endowments and foundations, labor funds, financial intermediaries, and private clients. Lazard, Inc. was incorporated in 1848 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About PhenixFIN

PhenixFIN Corporation is a business development company. The firm seeks to invest in privately negotiated debt and equity securities of small and middle market companies. It primarily invests in the following sectors: business services; buildings and real estate; automobile; oil and gas; aerospace and defense; home and office furnishings, housewares, and durable consumer products; healthcare, education and childcare; personal, food, and miscellaneous services; retail stores, diversified or conglomerate manufacturing; telecommunications; mining, steel, iron, and non-precious metals; leisure, amusement, motion pictures, and entertainment; chemicals, plastics, and rubber; finance; personal and nondurable consumer products (manufacturing only); beverage, food, and tobacco; containers, packaging, and glass; structure finance securities; machinery (non-agriculture, non-construction, non-electric); diversified or conglomerate service; restaurant and franchise; electronics; and cargo transport. The fund seeks to invest in companies located in North America. The fund targets private debt transactions in companies with enterprise values or asset values between $25 million and $250 million. The fund seeks to invest in companies with debt investment values between $10 million and $50 million. It exits its investments between three years and seven years; it holds most of its investments to maturity or repayment, but may realize or sell some investments earlier. The fund may take a board seat on its investee companies and can also offer managerial assistance to certain portfolio companies. It structures its investments as first lien senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loans, senior secured notes, senior subordinated notes, subordinate notes, unitranche loans, and seeks warrants or other equity participation. The fund may co-invest in privately negotiated transactions under certain conditions. PhenixFIN Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York.