MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) versus Trinity Capital (NASDAQ:TRIN) Head-To-Head Comparison

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) and Trinity Capital (NASDAQ:TRIN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares MarketAxess and Trinity Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MarketAxess	35.22%	22.48%	12.84%
Trinity Capital	43.45%	14.94%	6.69%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.0% of MarketAxess shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.6% of Trinity Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of MarketAxess shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Trinity Capital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

MarketAxess pays an annual dividend of $3.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Trinity Capital pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.6%. MarketAxess pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Trinity Capital pays out 116.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. MarketAxess has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Trinity Capital has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MarketAxess and Trinity Capital”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MarketAxess	$846.27 million	6.84	$246.63 million	$8.48	19.40
Trinity Capital	$216.31 million	7.09	$135.60 million	$1.75	9.25

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for MarketAxess and Trinity Capital, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MarketAxess	0	12	1	0	2.08
Trinity Capital	1	1	3	1	2.67

MarketAxess presently has a consensus price target of $159.44, suggesting a potential downside of 3.08%. Trinity Capital has a consensus price target of $16.60, suggesting a potential upside of 2.51%. Given Trinity Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Trinity Capital is more favorable than MarketAxess.

Risk & Volatility

MarketAxess has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Trinity Capital has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MarketAxess beats Trinity Capital on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S. government bonds, and other fixed-income securities; and executes bond trades between and among institutional investor and broker-dealer clients in an all-to-all anonymous trading environment for corporate bonds through its Open Trading protocols. It also provides trading-related products and services, including composite+ pricing and other market data products to assist clients with trading decisions; auto-execution and other execution services for clients requiring specialized workflow solutions; connectivity solutions that facilitate straight-through processing; and technology services to optimize trading environments. In addition, the company offers various pre-and post-trade services, such as trade matching, trade publication, regulatory transaction reporting, and market and reference data across a range of fixed-income and other products. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Trinity Capital

Trinity Capital Inc. is a business development company. It is a venture capital firm specializing in venture debt to growth stage companies looking for loans and/or equipment financing. Trinity Capital Inc. was founded in 2019 is based in Phoenix, Arizona with additional offices in the United States.