Houlihan Lokey (HLI) Competitors

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) and Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment and risk.

Which has more risk & volatility, HLI or AMP?

Houlihan Lokey has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HLI or AMP a better dividend stock?

Houlihan Lokey pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Houlihan Lokey pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameriprise Financial pays out 19.9% 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. Houlihan Lokey has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years and Ameriprise Financial has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Ameriprise Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in HLI or AMP?

78.1% of Houlihan Lokey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.7% of Houlihan Lokey shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to HLI or AMP?

In the previous week, Ameriprise Financial had 17 more articles in the media than Houlihan Lokey. MarketBeat recorded 42 mentions for Ameriprise Financial and 25 mentions for Houlihan Lokey. Ameriprise Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Houlihan Lokey's score of 1.12 indicating that Ameriprise Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Houlihan Lokey	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameriprise Financial	30 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is HLI or AMP more profitable?

Ameriprise Financial has a net margin of 18.30% compared to Houlihan Lokey's net margin of 16.46%. Ameriprise Financial's return on equity of 65.90% beat Houlihan Lokey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Houlihan Lokey	16.46%	23.75%	14.21%
Ameriprise Financial	18.30%	65.90%	2.02%

Do analysts rate HLI or AMP?

Houlihan Lokey currently has a consensus price target of $206.40, indicating a potential upside of 8.78%. Ameriprise Financial has a consensus price target of $534.71, indicating a potential upside of 6.60%. Given Houlihan Lokey's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Houlihan Lokey is more favorable than Ameriprise Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Houlihan Lokey	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Ameriprise Financial	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.13

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, HLI or AMP?

Ameriprise Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Houlihan Lokey. Ameriprise Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Houlihan Lokey, 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
Houlihan Lokey	$2.39B	5.54	$399.71M	$5.94	31.94
Ameriprise Financial	$17.26B	2.77	$3.40B	$32.14	15.61

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Houlihan Lokey on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.