Piper Sandler Companies (PIPR) Competitors

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) and Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment and dividends.

Is SF or PIPR more profitable?

Stifel Financial has a net margin of 11.34% compared to Stifel Financial's net margin of 7.33%. Stifel Financial's return on equity of 13.65% beat Piper Sandler Companies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stifel Financial	11.34%	12.40%	1.51%
Piper Sandler Companies	7.33%	13.65%	8.85%

Which has more volatility & risk, SF or PIPR?

Stifel Financial has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piper Sandler Companies has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate SF or PIPR?

Stifel Financial presently has a consensus target price of $84.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.04%. Piper Sandler Companies has a consensus target price of $181.50, suggesting a potential downside of 12.06%. Given Piper Sandler Companies' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Stifel Financial is more favorable than Piper Sandler Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stifel Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Piper Sandler Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SF or PIPR?

Piper Sandler Companies received 106 more outperform votes than Stifel Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.14% of users gave Piper Sandler Companies an outperform vote while only 55.56% of users gave Stifel Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Stifel Financial	Outperform Votes 270 55.56%	Underperform Votes 216 44.44%
Piper Sandler Companies	Outperform Votes 376 57.14%	Underperform Votes 282 42.86%

Is SF or PIPR a better dividend stock?

Stifel Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Piper Sandler Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Stifel Financial pays out 38.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Piper Sandler Companies pays out 40.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Stifel Financial has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Stifel Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SF or PIPR?

82.0% of Stifel Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.8% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of Stifel Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, SF or PIPR?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stifel Financial	$4.35B	1.84	$522.54M	$4.40	17.78
Piper Sandler Companies	$1.34B	2.72	$85.49M	$5.88	35.10

Does the media prefer SF or PIPR?

In the previous week, Piper Sandler Companies had 1 more articles in the media than Stifel Financial. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Piper Sandler Companies and 3 mentions for Stifel Financial. Piper Sandler Companies' average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Stifel Financial's score of 0.87 indicating that Stifel Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Stifel Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Piper Sandler Companies	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Stifel Financial beats Piper Sandler Companies on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.