Independence Realty Trust (IRT) Competitors

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) and Independence Realty Trust (NYSE:IRT) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Which has better earnings & valuation, JEF or IRT?

Jefferies Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Independence Realty Trust. Jefferies Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Independence Realty Trust, 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
Jefferies Financial Group	$10.52B	1.28	$743.38M	$2.98	21.99
Independence Realty Trust	$640.03M	7.37	$39.29M	$0.18	113.56

Do analysts rate JEF or IRT?

Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus target price of $81.67, indicating a potential upside of 24.64%. Independence Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $21.33, indicating a potential upside of 4.37%. Given Jefferies Financial Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Jefferies Financial Group is more favorable than Independence Realty Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jefferies Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Independence Realty Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is JEF or IRT a better dividend stock?

Jefferies Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Independence Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group pays out 53.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Independence Realty Trust pays out 355.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is JEF or IRT more profitable?

Jefferies Financial Group has a net margin of 10.57% compared to Independence Realty Trust's net margin of 6.15%. Jefferies Financial Group's return on equity of 7.92% beat Independence Realty Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jefferies Financial Group	10.57%	7.92%	1.26%
Independence Realty Trust	6.15%	1.11%	0.66%

Does the media favor JEF or IRT?

In the previous week, Jefferies Financial Group had 10 more articles in the media than Independence Realty Trust. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Jefferies Financial Group and 11 mentions for Independence Realty Trust. Independence Realty Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat Jefferies Financial Group's score of 0.86 indicating that Independence Realty Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Jefferies Financial Group	7 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Independence Realty Trust	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in JEF or IRT?

Jefferies Financial Group received 232 more outperform votes than Independence Realty Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.83% of users gave Independence Realty Trust an outperform vote while only 53.59% of users gave Jefferies Financial Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Jefferies Financial Group	Outperform Votes 597 53.59%	Underperform Votes 517 46.41%
Independence Realty Trust	Outperform Votes 365 60.83%	Underperform Votes 235 39.17%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of JEF or IRT?

60.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.3% of Independence Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 20.4% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Independence Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, JEF or IRT?

Jefferies Financial Group has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Independence Realty Trust has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Jefferies Financial Group beats Independence Realty Trust on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.