StepStone Group (STEP) Competitors

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

Is STEP or CBOE a better dividend stock?

StepStone Group pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Cboe Global Markets pays an annual dividend of $2.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. StepStone Group pays out -56.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cboe Global Markets pays out 34.9% 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in STEP or CBOE?

StepStone Group received 29 more outperform votes than Cboe Global Markets when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 33.33% of users gave StepStone Group an outperform vote while only 11.11% of users gave Cboe Global Markets an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
StepStone Group	Outperform Votes 31 33.33%	Underperform Votes 62 66.67%
Cboe Global Markets	Outperform Votes 2 11.11%	Underperform Votes 16 88.89%

Do analysts rate STEP or CBOE?

StepStone Group currently has a consensus target price of $69.21, suggesting a potential upside of 21.09%. Cboe Global Markets has a consensus target price of $206.86, suggesting a potential downside of 3.44%. Given StepStone Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe StepStone Group is more favorable than Cboe Global Markets.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
StepStone Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Cboe Global Markets	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in STEP or CBOE?

55.5% of StepStone Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.7% of Cboe Global Markets shares are held by institutional investors. 18.4% of StepStone Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Cboe Global Markets shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to STEP or CBOE?

In the previous week, Cboe Global Markets had 9 more articles in the media than StepStone Group. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Cboe Global Markets and 9 mentions for StepStone Group. Cboe Global Markets' average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat StepStone Group's score of 1.38 indicating that Cboe Global Markets is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
StepStone Group	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cboe Global Markets	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is STEP or CBOE more profitable?

Cboe Global Markets has a net margin of 18.64% compared to StepStone Group's net margin of -11.29%. Cboe Global Markets' return on equity of 22.02% beat StepStone Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
StepStone Group	-11.29%	12.04%	5.03%
Cboe Global Markets	18.64%	22.02%	10.73%

Which has more volatility and risk, STEP or CBOE?

StepStone Group has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cboe Global Markets has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, STEP or CBOE?

Cboe Global Markets has higher revenue and earnings than StepStone Group. StepStone Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cboe Global Markets, 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	$1.15B	5.75	$58.09M	-$1.69	-33.82
Cboe Global Markets	$4.09B	5.48	$764.90M	$7.22	29.67

Summary

StepStone Group and Cboe Global Markets tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.