ECN Capital (ECN) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility & risk, ECN or FN?

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, ECN or FN?

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
ECN Capital	C$104.77M	8.53	-C$64.93M	-C$0.33	-9.64
First National Financial	C$711.26M	3.40	C$227.90M	C$3.80	10.61

Do analysts rate ECN or FN?

ECN Capital currently has a consensus target price of C$2.52, indicating a potential downside of 20.86%. First National Financial has a consensus target price of C$42.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.87%. Given First National Financial's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First National Financial is more favorable than ECN Capital.

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ECN or FN?

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

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ECN or FN?

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

Is ECN or FN 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
ECN Capital	-55.01%	-33.69%	-4.85%
First National Financial	32.60%	30.22%	0.48%

Does the media refer more to ECN or FN?

In the previous week, First National Financial had 2 more articles in the media than ECN Capital. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for First National Financial and 2 mentions for ECN Capital. First National Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat ECN Capital's score of 0.51 indicating that First National Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Is ECN or FN a better dividend stock?

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

Summary

First National Financial beats ECN Capital on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.