MarketAxess (MKTX) Competitors

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) 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 community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Do analysts rate MKTX or SF?

MarketAxess presently has a consensus price target of $249.73, suggesting a potential upside of 25.64%. Stifel Financial has a consensus price target of $84.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.04%. Given MarketAxess' higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe MarketAxess is more favorable than Stifel Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MarketAxess	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.09
Stifel Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MKTX or SF?

MarketAxess received 65 more outperform votes than Stifel Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.56% of users gave Stifel Financial an outperform vote while only 46.59% of users gave MarketAxess an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
MarketAxess	Outperform Votes 335 46.59%	Underperform Votes 384 53.41%
Stifel Financial	Outperform Votes 270 55.56%	Underperform Votes 216 44.44%

Which has more volatility and risk, MKTX or SF?

MarketAxess has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stifel Financial has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MKTX or SF more profitable?

MarketAxess has a net margin of 33.83% compared to Stifel Financial's net margin of 11.34%. MarketAxess' return on equity of 20.82% beat Stifel Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MarketAxess	33.83%	20.82%	14.17%
Stifel Financial	11.34%	12.40%	1.51%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, MKTX or SF?

Stifel Financial has higher revenue and earnings than MarketAxess. Stifel Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MarketAxess, 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
MarketAxess	$752.55M	10.01	$258.05M	$6.81	29.19
Stifel Financial	$4.35B	1.84	$522.54M	$4.40	17.78

Does the media refer more to MKTX or SF?

In the previous week, MarketAxess had 8 more articles in the media than Stifel Financial. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for MarketAxess and 2 mentions for Stifel Financial. Stifel Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat MarketAxess' score of 1.05 indicating that Stifel Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MarketAxess	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Stifel Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is MKTX or SF a better dividend stock?

MarketAxess pays an annual dividend of $2.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Stifel Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. MarketAxess pays out 43.5% 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. Stifel Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in MKTX or SF?

99.0% of MarketAxess shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.0% of Stifel Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of MarketAxess shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Stifel Financial shares are held 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.

Summary

MarketAxess beats Stifel Financial on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.