Analyzing London Stock Exchange Group (OTCMKTS:LDNXF) and MarketWise (NASDAQ:MKTW)

London Stock Exchange Group (OTCMKTS:LDNXF) and MarketWise (NASDAQ:MKTW) are both financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for London Stock Exchange Group and MarketWise, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
London Stock Exchange Group	0	0	0	0	N/A
MarketWise	0	1	1	0	2.50

MarketWise has a consensus target price of $2.50, indicating a potential upside of 330.29%. Given MarketWise’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MarketWise is more favorable than London Stock Exchange Group.

Dividends

London Stock Exchange Group pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. MarketWise pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. London Stock Exchange Group pays out 51.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MarketWise pays out 50.0% 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. MarketWise is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares London Stock Exchange Group and MarketWise’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
London Stock Exchange Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
MarketWise	0.80%	-1.30%	0.91%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

29.8% of London Stock Exchange Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.0% of MarketWise shares are owned by institutional investors. 28.6% of MarketWise 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares London Stock Exchange Group and MarketWise”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
London Stock Exchange Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.55	247.26
MarketWise	$432.34 million	0.43	$1.78 million	$0.08	7.27

MarketWise has higher revenue and earnings than London Stock Exchange Group. MarketWise is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than London Stock Exchange Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

MarketWise beats London Stock Exchange Group on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About London Stock Exchange Group

London Stock Exchange Group plc operates as a financial markets infrastructure and data provider primarily in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Data & Analytics, Capital Markets, and Post Trade. It operates a range of international equity, fixed income, exchange-traded funds/exchange-traded products, and foreign exchange markets through the London Stock Exchange, AIM, Turquoise, FXall, Matching, and Tradeweb. The company also provides information and data products, such as indexes, benchmarks, real time pricing data and trade reporting, and reconciliation services, as well as network connection and services; market trading services; and clearing, risk management, capital optimization, and regulatory reporting solutions. In addition, it licenses capital markets; installs software; and provides maintenance, and events and media services. The company was founded in 1698 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About MarketWise

MarketWise, Inc. operates a content and technology multi-brand platform for self-directed investors in the United States and Internationally. Its platform includes subscription businesses that provides financial research, software, education, and tools to navigate the financial markets. The company offers various investment strategies, such as value investing, income, growth, commodities, cryptocurrencies, venture, crowdfunded investing, biotechnology, mutual funds, options, and trading; investment research product portfolio through a range of media, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile; and financial newsletters. It provides a suite of stock research tools and portfolio management services under the Chaikin Analytics brand; portfolio management software tools under the TradeSmith brand name; and database of accounting-based financial summaries under the Altimetry brand. In addition, the company develops screeners, monitors, portfolio management tools, and proprietary indicators that produce a composite score to rank publicly traded companies. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.