W. P. Carey (WPC) Competitors

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) and Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Is WPC or ARES a better dividend stock?

W. P. Carey pays an annual dividend of $3.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Ares Management pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. W. P. Carey pays out 170.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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. W. P. Carey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to WPC or ARES?

In the previous week, Ares Management had 14 more articles in the media than W. P. Carey. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for Ares Management and 24 mentions for W. P. Carey. W. P. Carey's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Ares Management's score of 0.81 indicating that W. P. Carey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W. P. Carey	21 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ares Management	20 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer WPC or ARES?

W. P. Carey presently has a consensus target price of $63.75, indicating a potential upside of 5.25%. Ares Management has a consensus target price of $165.40, indicating a potential upside of 16.99%. Given Ares Management's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ares Management is more favorable than W. P. Carey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. P. Carey	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.22
Ares Management	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WPC or ARES?

Ares Management received 267 more outperform votes than W. P. Carey when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.93% of users gave Ares Management an outperform vote while only 56.55% of users gave W. P. Carey an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
W. P. Carey	Outperform Votes 341 56.55%	Underperform Votes 262 43.45%
Ares Management	Outperform Votes 608 68.93%	Underperform Votes 274 31.07%

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

73.7% of W. P. Carey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.0% of Ares Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of W. P. Carey 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, WPC or ARES?

W. P. Carey has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ares Management. W. P. Carey 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
W. P. Carey	$1.58B	8.38	$460.84M	$2.09	28.98
Ares Management	$3.88B	11.48	$440.96M	$2.03	69.65

Which has more risk & volatility, WPC or ARES?

W. P. Carey has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Management has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WPC or ARES more profitable?

W. P. Carey has a net margin of 29.11% compared to Ares Management's net margin of 11.35%. Ares Management's return on equity of 16.64% beat W. P. Carey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. P. Carey	29.11%	5.37%	2.61%
Ares Management	11.35%	16.64%	3.41%

Summary

Ares Management beats W. P. Carey on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.