ECN Capital (ECN) Competitors

First National Financial (TSE:FN) and ECN Capital (TSE:ECN) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and media sentiment.

Is FN or ECN a better dividend stock?

First National Financial pays an annual dividend of C$2.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. ECN Capital pays an annual dividend of C$0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. First National Financial pays out 64.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ECN Capital pays out -12.1% 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.

Which has more risk & volatility, FN or ECN?

First National Financial has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ECN Capital has a beta of 1.35, meaning that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer FN or ECN?

In the previous week, ECN Capital had 6 more articles in the media than First National Financial. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for ECN Capital and 1 mentions for First National Financial. ECN Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.01 beat First National Financial's score of 0.00 indicating that ECN Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First National Financial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
ECN Capital	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer FN or ECN?

First National Financial currently has a consensus target price of C$42.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.45%. ECN Capital has a consensus target price of C$2.52, indicating a potential downside of 16.67%. Given First National Financial's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe First National Financial is more favorable than ECN Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First National Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
ECN Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FN or ECN?

ECN Capital received 92 more outperform votes than First National Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.81% of users gave ECN Capital an outperform vote while only 44.02% of users gave First National Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First National Financial	Outperform Votes 228 44.02%	Underperform Votes 290 55.98%
ECN Capital	Outperform Votes 320 66.81%	Underperform Votes 159 33.19%

Which has better valuation & earnings, FN or ECN?

First National Financial has higher revenue and earnings than ECN Capital. ECN Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First National Financial, 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
First National Financial	C$711.26M	3.41	C$227.90M	C$3.80	10.65
ECN Capital	C$104.77M	8.10	-C$64.93M	-C$0.33	-9.15

Is FN or ECN more profitable?

First National Financial has a net margin of 32.60% compared to ECN Capital's net margin of -55.01%. First National Financial's return on equity of 30.22% beat ECN Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First National Financial	32.60%	30.22%	0.48%
ECN Capital	-55.01%	-33.69%	-4.85%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in FN or ECN?

4.0% of First National Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of ECN Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 71.5% of First National Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of ECN Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

First National Financial beats ECN Capital on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.