StepStone Group (STEP) Competitors

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) and Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, media sentiment, dividends and profitability.

Which has more risk and volatility, STEP or CG?

StepStone Group has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carlyle Group has a beta of 1.9, suggesting that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is STEP or CG a better dividend stock?

StepStone Group pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Carlyle Group pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. StepStone Group pays out -31.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Carlyle Group pays out 40.9% 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. StepStone Group has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Carlyle Group has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Carlyle Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is STEP or CG more profitable?

Carlyle Group has a net margin of 20.22% compared to StepStone Group's net margin of -17.10%. Carlyle Group's return on equity of 23.60% beat StepStone Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
StepStone Group	-17.10%	16.07%	5.30%
Carlyle Group	20.22%	23.60%	6.41%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, STEP or CG?

Carlyle Group has higher revenue and earnings than StepStone Group. StepStone Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carlyle Group, 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
StepStone Group	$1.17B	6.23	-$179.56M	-$3.08	-20.41
Carlyle Group	$5.43B	4.29	$1.02B	$3.42	18.84

Do analysts prefer STEP or CG?

StepStone Group currently has a consensus target price of $64.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.80%. Carlyle Group has a consensus target price of $59.93, suggesting a potential downside of 6.97%. Given StepStone Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe StepStone Group is more favorable than Carlyle Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
StepStone Group	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
Carlyle Group	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of STEP or CG?

55.5% of StepStone Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.9% of Carlyle Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.5% of StepStone Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 26.3% of Carlyle Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to STEP or CG?

In the previous week, Carlyle Group had 2 more articles in the media than StepStone Group. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Carlyle Group and 14 mentions for StepStone Group. Carlyle Group's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat StepStone Group's score of 1.21 indicating that Carlyle Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
StepStone Group	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Carlyle Group	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Carlyle Group beats StepStone Group on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.