Contrasting Blackstone (NYSE:BX) and CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF)

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) and CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.0% of Blackstone shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Blackstone shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Blackstone has a beta of 1.51, suggesting that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CI Financial has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Blackstone pays an annual dividend of $3.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. CI Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Blackstone pays out 121.6% 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 -67.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CI Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Blackstone and CI Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blackstone	19.35%	17.43%	7.49%
CI Financial	-1.90%	50.83%	5.21%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Blackstone and CI Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blackstone	0	13	6	0	2.32
CI Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Blackstone currently has a consensus target price of $155.38, suggesting a potential downside of 9.02%. Given Blackstone’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Blackstone is more favorable than CI Financial.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Blackstone and CI Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blackstone	$9.33 billion	13.07	$1.39 billion	$2.83	60.32
CI Financial	$2.03 billion	1.15	$3.72 million	($0.88)	-17.52

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

Summary

Blackstone beats CI Financial on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc. is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services. The real estate segment specializes in opportunistic, core+ investments as well as debt investment opportunities collateralized by commercial real estate, and stabilized income-oriented commercial real estate across North America, Europe and Asia. The firm's corporate private equity business pursues transactions throughout the world across a variety of transaction types, including large buyouts,special situations, distressed mortgage loans, mid-cap buyouts, buy and build platforms, which involves multiple acquisitions behind a single management team and platform, and growth equity/development projects involving significant majority stakes in portfolio companies and minority investments in operating companies, shipping, real estate, corporate or consumer loans, and alternative energy greenfield development projects in energy and power, property, dislocated markets, shipping opportunities, financial institution breakups, re-insurance, and improving freight mobility, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, infrastructure, enterprise tech and consumer, as well as consumer technologies. The firm considers investment in Asia and Latin America. It seeks to invest between $0.25 million and $900 million per transaction. It invests in companies with enterprise value between $500 million and $5000 million. It has a three year investment period. Its hedge fund business manages a broad range of commingled and customized fund solutions and its credit business focuses on loans, and securities of non-investment grade companies spread across the capital structure including senior debt, subordinated debt, preferred stock and common equity. Blackstone Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, New York with additional offices across Asia, Europe, North America and Central America.

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.