Analyzing Cannae (NYSE:CNNE) and Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG)

Cannae (NYSE:CNNE) and Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cannae and Silvercrest Asset Management Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cannae	$452.50 million	2.87	-$304.60 million	($5.26)	-3.92
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	$123.65 million	1.66	$9.53 million	$0.95	16.12

Silvercrest Asset Management Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cannae. Cannae is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Silvercrest Asset Management Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Cannae and Silvercrest Asset Management Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cannae	0	0	2	0	3.00
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cannae currently has a consensus price target of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.59%. Given Cannae’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cannae is more favorable than Silvercrest Asset Management Group.

Risk & Volatility

Cannae has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Silvercrest Asset Management Group has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cannae and Silvercrest Asset Management Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cannae	-73.64%	-4.86%	-3.99%
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	7.22%	12.39%	8.36%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.1% of Cannae shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.6% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.9% of Cannae shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 20.4% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Cannae pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Cannae pays out -9.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays out 84.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Silvercrest Asset Management Group has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Silvercrest Asset Management Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Silvercrest Asset Management Group beats Cannae on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cannae

Cannae Holdings, Inc. is a principal investment firm. The firm primarily invests in restaurants, technology enabled healthcare services, financial services and more. It takes both minority and majority stakes. Cannae Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About Silvercrest Asset Management Group

Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc., a wealth management firm, provides financial advisory and related family office services in the United States. The company serves ultra-high net worth individuals and families, as well as their trusts; endowments; foundations; and other institutional investors. It also manages funds of funds and other investment funds. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in New York, New York.