Head-To-Head Review: Webull (NASDAQ:BULL) and MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX)

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) and Webull (NASDAQ:BULL) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.0% of MarketAxess shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of Webull shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of MarketAxess shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 35.0% of Webull shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MarketAxess	$871.61 million	6.67	$246.63 million	$8.17	20.23
Webull	$680.89 million	4.11	$24.77 million	$0.08	64.62

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

Volatility and Risk

MarketAxess has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Webull has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MarketAxess	33.51%	23.15%	12.43%
Webull	6.26%	5.95%	1.60%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for MarketAxess and Webull, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MarketAxess	0	12	1	0	2.08
Webull	1	1	3	0	2.40

MarketAxess currently has a consensus target price of $159.44, suggesting a potential downside of 3.54%. Webull has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 93.42%. Given Webull’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Webull is more favorable than MarketAxess.

Summary

MarketAxess beats Webull on 9 of the 14 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 Webull

Webull Corp. engages in the provision of financial services. It offers trading, wealth management product distribution, market data and information, user community, and investor education. The company was founded by An Quan Wang in 2016 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL.