Stifel Financial (SF) Competitors

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, PIPR or SF?

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
Piper Sandler Companies	$1.35B	2.59	$85.49M	$5.88	33.53
Stifel Financial	$4.35B	1.87	$522.54M	$4.40	17.97

Is PIPR or SF a better dividend stock?

Piper Sandler Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Stifel Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Piper Sandler Companies pays out 40.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stifel Financial pays out 38.2% 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. Piper Sandler Companies has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PIPR or SF?

Piper Sandler Companies received 94 more outperform votes than Stifel Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.35% of users gave Piper Sandler Companies an outperform vote while only 55.46% of users gave Stifel Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Piper Sandler Companies	Outperform Votes 363 57.35%	Underperform Votes 270 42.65%
Stifel Financial	Outperform Votes 269 55.46%	Underperform Votes 216 44.54%

Does the media refer more to PIPR or SF?

In the previous week, Stifel Financial had 10 more articles in the media than Piper Sandler Companies. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Stifel Financial and 11 mentions for Piper Sandler Companies. Stifel Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.79 beat Piper Sandler Companies' score of 0.24 indicating that Piper Sandler Companies is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Piper Sandler Companies	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Stifel Financial	3 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is PIPR or SF more profitable?

Stifel Financial has a net margin of 11.34% compared to Stifel Financial's net margin of 6.33%. Stifel Financial's return on equity of 13.27% beat Piper Sandler Companies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Piper Sandler Companies	6.33%	13.27%	8.48%
Stifel Financial	11.34%	12.39%	1.52%

Do analysts rate PIPR or SF?

Piper Sandler Companies presently has a consensus target price of $181.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.94%. Stifel Financial has a consensus target price of $84.50, indicating a potential upside of 6.89%. Given Piper Sandler Companies' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Stifel Financial is more favorable than Piper Sandler Companies.

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

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PIPR or SF?

72.8% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.0% of Stifel Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Stifel Financial shares are held by company 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.

Which has more volatility & risk, PIPR or SF?

Piper Sandler Companies has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stifel Financial has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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