Brighthouse Financial (BHF) Competitors

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) and Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Is BHF or WTFC more profitable?

Wintrust Financial has a net margin of 18.06% compared to Brighthouse Financial's net margin of 10.24%. Brighthouse Financial's return on equity of 21.06% beat Wintrust Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brighthouse Financial	10.24%	21.06%	0.47%
Wintrust Financial	18.06%	12.08%	1.12%

Does the media refer more to BHF or WTFC?

In the previous week, Wintrust Financial had 2 more articles in the media than Brighthouse Financial. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Wintrust Financial and 11 mentions for Brighthouse Financial. Wintrust Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat Brighthouse Financial's score of 1.47 indicating that Wintrust Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brighthouse Financial	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Wintrust Financial	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of BHF or WTFC?

81.2% of Brighthouse Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Brighthouse Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, BHF or WTFC?

Wintrust Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Brighthouse Financial. Brighthouse Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wintrust Financial, 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
Brighthouse Financial	$6.15B	0.44	$388M	$9.24	5.10
Wintrust Financial	$3.97B	2.26	$695.04M	$10.57	12.68

Do analysts recommend BHF or WTFC?

Brighthouse Financial currently has a consensus target price of $59.67, suggesting a potential upside of 26.71%. Wintrust Financial has a consensus target price of $145.77, suggesting a potential upside of 8.77%. Given Brighthouse Financial's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Brighthouse Financial is more favorable than Wintrust Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brighthouse Financial	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.13
Wintrust Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92

Which has more volatility and risk, BHF or WTFC?

Brighthouse Financial has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats Brighthouse Financial on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.