Head to Head Review: B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) vs. Janus Henderson Group (NYSE:JHG)

Janus Henderson Group (NYSE:JHG) and B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Janus Henderson Group and B. Riley Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Janus Henderson Group	1	6	2	0	2.11
B. Riley Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A

Janus Henderson Group currently has a consensus target price of $33.33, indicating a potential downside of 6.93%. Given Janus Henderson Group’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Janus Henderson Group is more favorable than B. Riley Financial.

Volatility and Risk

Janus Henderson Group has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, B. Riley Financial has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Janus Henderson Group and B. Riley Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Janus Henderson Group	$2.23 billion	2.58	$392.00 million	$2.65	13.51
B. Riley Financial	$1.55 billion	0.12	-$99.91 million	($5.01)	-1.24

Janus Henderson Group has higher revenue and earnings than B. Riley Financial. B. Riley Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Janus Henderson Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Janus Henderson Group pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. B. Riley Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 32.2%. Janus Henderson Group pays out 58.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. B. Riley Financial pays out -39.9% 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. B. Riley Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Janus Henderson Group and B. Riley Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Janus Henderson Group	21.02%	10.76%	7.56%
B. Riley Financial	-9.28%	-25.84%	-1.75%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.9% of Janus Henderson Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.2% of B. Riley Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 19.6% of Janus Henderson Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.9% of B. Riley Financial shares are held 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

Janus Henderson Group beats B. Riley Financial on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Janus Henderson Group

Janus Henderson Group plc is an asset management holding entity. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides services to institutional, retail clients, and high net worth clients. It manages separate client-focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm also manages equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. It invests in public equity and fixed income markets, as well as invests in real estate and private equity. Janus Henderson Group plc was founded in 1934 and is based in London, United Kingdom with additional offices in Jersey, United Kingdom and Sydney, Australia.

About B. Riley Financial

B. Riley Financial, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides financial services to corporate, institutional, and high net worth clients in North America, Australia, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through six segments: Capital Markets, Wealth Management, Financial Consulting, Auction and Liquidation, Communications, and Consumer. The Capital Markets segments offers investment banking, equity research, institutional sales and trading, securities lending, fund and asset management, direct lending, venture capital, proprietary trading, and investment services; merger and acquisition, restructuring advisory, and recapitalization services; public and private equity offerings; and debt financing solutions. This segment also trades in equity securities. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management and tax services. The Financial Consulting segment offers bankruptcy restructuring and turnaround management, forensic accounting and litigation support, valuation and appraisal, and real estate services. The Auction and Liquidation Segment provides auction and liquidation services. The Communications segment offers dial-up, mobile broadband and digital subscriber line services under the NetZero and Juno brands; cloud communication services; VoIP cloud-based technology and communication devices and subscription services through magicJack; and mobile phone voice, text, and data services and devices through Marconi Wireless. The Consumer segment sells laptop and computer accessories. The company was formerly known as Great American Group, Inc. and changed its name to B. Riley Financial, Inc. in November 2014. B. Riley Financial, Inc. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.