Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) Competitors

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) and Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and risk.

Is JEF or ARES more profitable?

Ares Management has a net margin of 11.35% compared to Jefferies Financial Group's net margin of 10.57%. Ares Management's return on equity of 16.64% beat Jefferies Financial Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jefferies Financial Group	10.57%	7.92%	1.26%
Ares Management	11.35%	16.64%	3.41%

Is JEF or ARES a better dividend stock?

Jefferies Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Ares Management pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Jefferies Financial Group pays out 53.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ares Management pays out 183.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Jefferies Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor JEF or ARES?

Ares Management received 2 more outperform votes than Jefferies Financial Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.73% of users gave Ares Management an outperform vote while only 53.63% of users gave Jefferies Financial Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Jefferies Financial Group	Outperform Votes 598 53.63%	Underperform Votes 517 46.37%
Ares Management	Outperform Votes 600 68.73%	Underperform Votes 273 31.27%

Which has better valuation and earnings, JEF or ARES?

Jefferies Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Ares Management. Jefferies Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ares Management, 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
Ares Management	$3.88B	14.02	$440.96M	$2.03	85.71

Does the media refer more to JEF or ARES?

In the previous week, Jefferies Financial Group had 10 more articles in the media than Ares Management. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Jefferies Financial Group and 11 mentions for Ares Management. Ares Management's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat Jefferies Financial Group's score of 0.86 indicating that Ares Management 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
Ares Management	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, JEF or ARES?

Jefferies Financial Group has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Management has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer JEF or ARES?

Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus price target of $81.67, indicating a potential upside of 24.64%. Ares Management has a consensus price target of $176.17, indicating a potential upside of 1.25%. Given Jefferies Financial Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Jefferies Financial Group is more favorable than Ares Management.

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
Ares Management	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in JEF or ARES?

60.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.0% of Ares Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.4% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Ares Management 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.

Summary

Jefferies Financial Group beats Ares Management on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.