Critical Review: CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF) versus Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG)

Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG) and CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Silvercrest Asset Management Group and CI Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	0	0	1	0	3.00
CI Financial	2	1	0	0	1.33

Insider & Institutional Ownership

47.6% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are held by institutional investors. 16.2% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Silvercrest Asset Management Group has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CI Financial has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. CI Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays out 100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. CI Financial pays out -169.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Silvercrest Asset Management Group and CI Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	6.24%	11.40%	7.64%
CI Financial	-2.28%	57.73%	5.23%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Silvercrest Asset Management Group and CI Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	$117.41 million	2.17	$9.09 million	$0.80	23.03
CI Financial	$2.03 billion	1.55	$3.72 million	($0.33)	-66.18

Silvercrest Asset Management Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than CI Financial. CI Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Silvercrest Asset Management Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Silvercrest Asset Management Group beats CI Financial on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Silvercrest Asset Management Group

Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc., a wealth management firm, provides financial advisory and related family office services in the United States. The company serves ultra-high net worth individuals and families, as well as their trusts; endowments; foundations; and other institutional investors. It also manages funds of funds and other investment funds. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About CI Financial

CI Financial Corp. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm manages separate client focused equity, fixed income, and alternative investments portfolios. It also manages mutual funds, hedge funds, and fund of funds for its clients through its subsidiaries. The firm was founded in 1965 and is based in Toronto, Canada with additional offices in Vancouver, Canada; Calgary, Canada; and Montreal, Canada.