Eaton Vance (EV) Competitors

Eaton Vance (NYSE:EV) and Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, community ranking and media sentiment.

Is EV or BEN a better dividend stock?

Eaton Vance pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Franklin Resources pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Eaton Vance pays out 45.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Franklin Resources pays out 196.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Franklin Resources has increased its dividend for 45 consecutive years. Franklin Resources is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, EV or BEN?

Eaton Vance has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Resources has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, EV or BEN?

Franklin Resources has higher revenue and earnings than Eaton Vance. Eaton Vance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Franklin Resources, 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
Eaton Vance	$1.73B	1.56	$138.52M	$3.29	7.19
Franklin Resources	$8.74B	1.15	$464.80M	$0.65	29.52

Does the MarketBeat Community favor EV or BEN?

Franklin Resources received 181 more outperform votes than Eaton Vance when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 39.52% of users gave Franklin Resources an outperform vote while only 34.73% of users gave Eaton Vance an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Eaton Vance	Outperform Votes 266 34.73%	Underperform Votes 500 65.27%
Franklin Resources	Outperform Votes 447 39.52%	Underperform Votes 684 60.48%

Does the media favor EV or BEN?

In the previous week, Franklin Resources had 14 more articles in the media than Eaton Vance. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Franklin Resources and 1 mentions for Eaton Vance. Franklin Resources' average media sentiment score of 1.10 beat Eaton Vance's score of 0.00 indicating that Franklin Resources is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Eaton Vance	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Franklin Resources	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend EV or BEN?

Franklin Resources has a consensus target price of $20.86, indicating a potential upside of 8.73%. Given Franklin Resources' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Franklin Resources is more favorable than Eaton Vance.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eaton Vance	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Franklin Resources	4 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.64

Is EV or BEN more profitable?

Eaton Vance has a net margin of 8.01% compared to Franklin Resources' net margin of 4.32%. Eaton Vance's return on equity of 29.84% beat Franklin Resources' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eaton Vance	8.01%	29.84%	8.98%
Franklin Resources	4.32%	9.45%	3.87%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in EV or BEN?

67.4% of Eaton Vance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.6% of Franklin Resources shares are held by institutional investors. 22.9% of Franklin Resources shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Franklin Resources beats Eaton Vance on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.