Comparing Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY) & PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX)

PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX) and Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

PhenixFIN has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oppenheimer has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

PhenixFIN pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Oppenheimer pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. PhenixFIN pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oppenheimer pays out 9.0% 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. Oppenheimer has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares PhenixFIN and Oppenheimer”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PhenixFIN	$14.16 million	5.85	$18.62 million	$2.41	17.80
Oppenheimer	$1.80 billion	0.63	$94.87 million	$8.86	11.84

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for PhenixFIN and Oppenheimer, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PhenixFIN	0	1	0	0	2.00
Oppenheimer	0	0	2	0	3.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

43.3% of PhenixFIN shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.3% of Oppenheimer shares are held by institutional investors. 25.2% of PhenixFIN shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 34.9% of Oppenheimer shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares PhenixFIN and Oppenheimer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PhenixFIN	72.98%	2.95%	1.68%
Oppenheimer	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Oppenheimer beats PhenixFIN on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PhenixFIN

PhenixFIN Corporation is a business development company. The firm seeks to invest in privately negotiated debt and equity securities of small and middle market companies. It primarily invests in the following sectors: business services; buildings and real estate; automobile; oil and gas; aerospace and defense; home and office furnishings, housewares, and durable consumer products; healthcare, education and childcare; personal, food, and miscellaneous services; retail stores, diversified or conglomerate manufacturing; telecommunications; mining, steel, iron, and non-precious metals; leisure, amusement, motion pictures, and entertainment; chemicals, plastics, and rubber; finance; personal and nondurable consumer products (manufacturing only); beverage, food, and tobacco; containers, packaging, and glass; structure finance securities; machinery (non-agriculture, non-construction, non-electric); diversified or conglomerate service; restaurant and franchise; electronics; and cargo transport. The fund seeks to invest in companies located in North America. The fund targets private debt transactions in companies with enterprise values or asset values between $25 million and $250 million. The fund seeks to invest in companies with debt investment values between $10 million and $50 million. It exits its investments between three years and seven years; it holds most of its investments to maturity or repayment, but may realize or sell some investments earlier. The fund may take a board seat on its investee companies and can also offer managerial assistance to certain portfolio companies. It structures its investments as first lien senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loans, senior secured notes, senior subordinated notes, subordinate notes, unitranche loans, and seeks warrants or other equity participation. The fund may co-invest in privately negotiated transactions under certain conditions. PhenixFIN Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. operates as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company provides brokerage services covering corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts; financial and wealth planning services; and margin lending services. It offers asset management services, including separately managed accounts, mutual fund managed accounts, discretionary portfolio management programs, non-discretionary investment advisory and consultation services, alternative investments, portfolio enhancement programs, and institutional taxable fixed income portfolio management strategies and solutions, as well as taxable and non-taxable fixed income portfolios and strategies. In addition, the company offers investment banking services, such as strategic advisory services and capital markets products; merger and acquisition, equities capital market, debt capital market, debt advisory and restructuring, and fund placement services; and institutional equity sales and trading, equity research, equity derivatives and index options, convertible bonds, event driven sales and trading, and portfolio and electronic trading. Further, it provides institutional fixed income sales and trading, fixed income research, public finance, and municipal trading services; and proprietary trading and investment activities. Additionally, the company offers underwriting, market-making, trust, and discount services, as well as a cloud-based financial market. It serves high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, public and private businesses, institutions and corporations, governments, financial sponsors, and domestic and international investors. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in New York, New York.