Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) vs. Freedom (NASDAQ:FRHC) Head-To-Head Comparison

Freedom (NASDAQ:FRHC) and Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Freedom has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Voya Financial has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.3% of Freedom shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Voya Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 69.8% of Freedom shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Voya Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Freedom and Voya Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Freedom	0	2	1	0	2.33
Voya Financial	1	3	8	1	2.69

Freedom currently has a consensus price target of $159.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.73%. Voya Financial has a consensus price target of $102.15, suggesting a potential upside of 0.77%. Given Freedom’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Freedom is more favorable than Voya Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Freedom and Voya Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Freedom	7.00%	11.50%	1.35%
Voya Financial	7.45%	12.31%	0.46%

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Freedom	$2.19 billion	4.17	$153.33 million	$2.51	59.35
Voya Financial	$8.19 billion	1.12	$654.00 million	$5.93	17.10

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

Summary

Voya Financial beats Freedom on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Freedom

Freedom Holding Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides securities brokerage, securities dealing, market making, investment research, investment counseling, and investment banking services. It offers retail brokerage services for exchange-traded and over-the-counter corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange traded options and futures contracts, government bonds, and mutual funds; securities trading; underwriting services; margin lending services collateralized by securities and cash in the customer’s account; various investment education and training courses; investment research services; and commercial banking services, including payment cards, digital mortgages, and digital business and digital auto loans, as well as Freedom Box, a package of payment acquiring services. The company also provides capital raising solutions for corporate clients through initial public offerings and follow-on offerings; and debt capital markets solutions that focuses on structuring and distributing private and public debt for various purposes, including buyouts, acquisitions, growth capital financings, and recapitalizations, as well as information processing services. In addition, it facilitates repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements in proprietary trading activities; and covers short positions and settle other securities obligations to accommodate customers’ needs and finance its inventory positions. Further, the company offers proprietary trading and investment services, as well as insurance products; and Tradernet software platform for client margin risk evaluation and middle office security transfer requests. It operates in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, rest of Europe, the United States, Russia, the Middle East, and Caucasus. The company was formerly known as BMB Munai, Inc. and changed its name to Freedom Holding Corp. Freedom Holding Corp. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

About Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc. engages in the provision of workplace benefits and savings products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Wealth Solutions, Health Solutions, and Investment Management. The Wealth Solutions segment offers full-service retirement products; recordkeeping services; stable value and fixed general account investment products; non-qualified plan administration services; and tools, guidance, and services to promote the financial well-being and retirement security of employees. The segment also provides wealth management services, such as individual retirement, managed, and brokerage accounts, as well as financial guidance and advisory services. This segment serves corporate, public and private school systems, higher education institutions, hospitals and healthcare facilities, other non-profit organizations, and state and local governments, as well as institutional and individual customers. The Health Solutions segment offers various insurance products comprising stop loss, group life, group disability, whole life, critical illness, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance. The segment also provides worksite employee benefits, health account solutions, leave management, benefits administration, health plan enrollment, financial wellness, and decision support products and services to mid-size and large corporate employers and professional associations. The Investment Management segment provides fixed income, equity, multi-asset, and alternative products and solutions to individual investors and institutional clients through its direct sales force, consultant channel, banks, broker-dealers, and independent financial advisers. The company was formerly known as ING U.S., Inc. and changed its name to Voya Financial, Inc. in April 2014. Voya Financial, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is based in New York, New York.