Stifel Financial (SF) Competitors

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) and Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, risk, valuation, community ranking, dividends and earnings.

Do analysts prefer LPLA or SF?

LPL Financial currently has a consensus target price of $387.69, suggesting a potential upside of 2.80%. Stifel Financial has a consensus target price of $105.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.06%. Given Stifel Financial's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Stifel Financial is more favorable than LPL Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LPL Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
Stifel Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38

Which has better earnings and valuation, LPLA or SF?

LPL Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Stifel Financial. Stifel Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LPL 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
LPL Financial	$13.22B	2.28	$1.06B	$14.45	26.10
Stifel Financial	$5.00B	1.99	$731.38M	$5.23	18.50

Does the media refer more to LPLA or SF?

In the previous week, LPL Financial had 14 more articles in the media than Stifel Financial. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for LPL Financial and 11 mentions for Stifel Financial. LPL Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Stifel Financial's score of 0.78 indicating that LPL Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
LPL Financial	10 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Stifel Financial	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LPLA or SF a better dividend stock?

LPL Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Stifel Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. LPL Financial pays out 8.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stifel Financial pays out 35.2% 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. Stifel Financial has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Stifel Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, LPLA or SF?

LPL Financial has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stifel Financial has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer LPLA or SF?

LPL Financial received 226 more outperform votes than Stifel Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.03% of users gave LPL Financial an outperform vote while only 55.09% of users gave Stifel Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
LPL Financial	Outperform Votes 513 59.03%	Underperform Votes 356 40.97%
Stifel Financial	Outperform Votes 287 55.09%	Underperform Votes 234 44.91%

Is LPLA or SF more profitable?

Stifel Financial has a net margin of 14.00% compared to LPL Financial's net margin of 8.55%. LPL Financial's return on equity of 49.41% beat Stifel Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LPL Financial	8.55%	49.41%	10.83%
Stifel Financial	14.00%	16.59%	2.04%

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

95.7% of LPL Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.0% of Stifel Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of LPL Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Stifel Financial shares are owned by company 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.

Summary

LPL Financial beats Stifel Financial on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.