Federated Investors (FII) Competitors

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) and Federated Investors (NYSE:FII) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, community ranking and media sentiment.

Is ARCC or FII more profitable?

Ares Capital has a net margin of 53.71% compared to Federated Investors' net margin of 20.52%. Federated Investors' return on equity of 28.65% beat Ares Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Capital	53.71%	12.06%	5.74%
Federated Investors	20.52%	28.65%	15.66%

Does the media prefer ARCC or FII?

In the previous week, Ares Capital had 14 more articles in the media than Federated Investors. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Ares Capital and 2 mentions for Federated Investors. Ares Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Federated Investors' score of 0.00 indicating that Ares Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ares Capital	11 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Federated Investors	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ARCC or FII?

Ares Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Federated Investors. Ares Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Federated Investors, 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
Ares Capital	$2.61B	5.44	$1.52B	$2.60	8.47
Federated Investors	$1.33B	3.23	$272.34M	$2.69	15.74

Do analysts recommend ARCC or FII?

Ares Capital currently has a consensus target price of $21.86, suggesting a potential downside of 0.74%. Given Ares Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Ares Capital is more favorable than Federated Investors.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Federated Investors	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has more volatility and risk, ARCC or FII?

Ares Capital has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Federated Investors has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ARCC or FII?

Ares Capital received 161 more outperform votes than Federated Investors when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.35% of users gave Ares Capital an outperform vote while only 43.43% of users gave Federated Investors an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ares Capital	Outperform Votes 409 62.35%	Underperform Votes 247 37.65%
Federated Investors	Outperform Votes 248 43.43%	Underperform Votes 323 56.57%

Is ARCC or FII a better dividend stock?

Ares Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Federated Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Ares Capital pays out 73.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Federated Investors pays out 40.1% 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.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in ARCC or FII?

27.4% of Ares Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.2% of Federated Investors shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ares Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Federated Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ares Capital beats Federated Investors on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.