Head-To-Head Contrast: Fairfax India (OTCMKTS:FFXDF) versus Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP)

Fairfax India (OTCMKTS:FFXDF) and Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.2% of Fairfax India shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Fairfax India and Ameriprise Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fairfax India	N/A	8.20%	6.44%
Ameriprise Financial	20.57%	62.88%	2.12%

Risk and Volatility

Fairfax India has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Fairfax India and Ameriprise Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fairfax India	0	0	0	0	0.00
Ameriprise Financial	1	6	3	1	2.36

Ameriprise Financial has a consensus target price of $543.22, indicating a potential upside of 21.03%. Given Ameriprise Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ameriprise Financial is more favorable than Fairfax India.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Fairfax India and Ameriprise Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fairfax India	$608.85 million	4.02	$410.53 million	$1.85	9.81
Ameriprise Financial	$18.48 billion	2.18	$3.56 billion	$40.21	11.16

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

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Fairfax India on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fairfax India

Fairfax India Holdings Corporation operates as an investment holding company in India. It invests in public and private equity securities and debt instruments in India and Indian businesses, or other businesses with customers, suppliers, or business primarily conducted and dependent in India. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Fairfax India Holdings Corporation is a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.

About Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services to individual and institutional clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Advice & Wealth Management, Asset Management, Retirement & Protection Solutions, and Corporate & Other. The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides financial planning and advice; brokerage products and services for retail and institutional clients; discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory accounts; mutual funds; insurance and annuities products; cash management and banking products; and face-amount certificates. The Asset Management segment offers investment management, advice, and products to retail, high net worth, and institutional clients through third-party financial institutions, advisor networks, direct retail, and its institutional sales force under the Columbia Threadneedle Investments brand name. This segment products include U.S. mutual funds and their non-U.S. equivalents, exchange-traded funds, variable product funds underlying insurance, and annuity separate accounts; and institutional asset management products, such as traditional asset classes, separately managed accounts, individually managed accounts, collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds, collective funds, and property and infrastructure funds. The Retirement & Protection Solutions segment provides variable annuity products, as well as life and disability income insurance products to retail clients. The company was formerly known as American Express Financial Corporation and changed its name to Ameriprise Financial, Inc. in September 2005. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.