ECN Capital (ECN) Competitors

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

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 1.2%. First National Financial pays out 79.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. ECN Capital pays out -17.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

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

4.0% of First National Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of ECN Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 71.5% of First National Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of ECN Capital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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$1.73B	1.40	C$185.07M	C$3.07	13.09
ECN Capital	C$131.39M	5.12	-C$32.06M	-C$0.22	-14.97

Do analysts recommend FN or ECN?

First National Financial presently has a consensus price target of C$42.67, indicating a potential upside of 6.16%. ECN Capital has a consensus price target of C$2.68, indicating a potential downside of 19.90%. Given First National Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible 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)	5 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is FN or ECN more profitable?

First National Financial has a net margin of 10.70% compared to ECN Capital's net margin of -24.40%. First National Financial's return on equity of 24.41% beat ECN Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First National Financial	10.70%	24.41%	0.48%
ECN Capital	-24.40%	-21.93%	-4.85%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FN or ECN?

ECN Capital received 92 more outperform votes than First National Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.53% 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 66.53%	Underperform Votes 161 33.47%

Does the media prefer FN or ECN?

In the previous week, First National Financial and First National Financial both had 1 articles in the media. First National Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.20 beat ECN Capital's score of 0.20 indicating that First National Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Which has more volatility & risk, FN or ECN?

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

Summary

First National Financial beats ECN Capital on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.