AllianceBernstein (AB) Competitors

AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB) and Focus Financial Partners (NASDAQ:FOCS) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, community ranking and institutional ownership.

Do analysts rate AB or FOCS?

AllianceBernstein presently has a consensus target price of $41.20, suggesting a potential upside of 14.10%. Given AllianceBernstein's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe AllianceBernstein is more favorable than Focus Financial Partners.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AllianceBernstein	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Focus Financial Partners	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Which has more volatility and risk, AB or FOCS?

AllianceBernstein has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Focus Financial Partners has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, AB or FOCS?

AllianceBernstein has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Focus Financial Partners. AllianceBernstein is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Focus Financial Partners, 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
AllianceBernstein	$363.26M	11.45	$264.18M	$2.41	14.98
Focus Financial Partners	$2.21B	1.88	$91.78M	$0.05	1,059.80

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AB or FOCS?

AllianceBernstein received 194 more outperform votes than Focus Financial Partners when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.42% of users gave Focus Financial Partners an outperform vote while only 57.02% of users gave AllianceBernstein an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AllianceBernstein	Outperform Votes 390 57.02%	Underperform Votes 294 42.98%
Focus Financial Partners	Outperform Votes 196 62.42%	Underperform Votes 118 37.58%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AB or FOCS?

19.3% of AllianceBernstein shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of Focus Financial Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of AllianceBernstein shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Focus Financial Partners shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer AB or FOCS?

In the previous week, AllianceBernstein had 11 more articles in the media than Focus Financial Partners. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for AllianceBernstein and 0 mentions for Focus Financial Partners. Focus Financial Partners' average media sentiment score of 0.53 beat AllianceBernstein's score of 0.46 indicating that Focus Financial Partners is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
AllianceBernstein	Neutral
Focus Financial Partners	Positive

Is AB or FOCS more profitable?

AllianceBernstein has a net margin of 7.68% compared to Focus Financial Partners' net margin of 2.77%. Focus Financial Partners' return on equity of 24.55% beat AllianceBernstein's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AllianceBernstein	7.68%	15.81%	15.80%
Focus Financial Partners	2.77%	24.55%	6.52%

Summary

AllianceBernstein beats Focus Financial Partners on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.