Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) vs. Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG) Financial Contrast

Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) and Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.6% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Barings Corporate Investors shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.4% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Barings Corporate Investors and Westwood Holdings Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A
Westwood Holdings Group	7.40%	8.34%	6.82%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Barings Corporate Investors and Westwood Holdings Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barings Corporate Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00
Westwood Holdings Group	0	0	1	0	3.00

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Barings Corporate Investors and Westwood Holdings Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Westwood Holdings Group	$97.76 million	1.59	$7.06 million	$0.83	19.72

Westwood Holdings Group has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Corporate Investors.

Volatility & Risk

Barings Corporate Investors has a beta of 0.33, indicating that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westwood Holdings Group has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Barings Corporate Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.3%. Westwood Holdings Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Westwood Holdings Group pays out 72.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Westwood Holdings Group beats Barings Corporate Investors on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Barings Corporate Investors

Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in securities of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in a portfolio of privately placed, below-investment grade, long term corporate debt obligations. The fund also invests in marketable investment grade debt securities, other marketable debt securities, and marketable common stocks. It was formerly known as Babson Capital Corporate Investors. Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust was formed in 1971 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Westwood Holdings Group

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manages investment assets and provides services for its clients. The company operates in two segments, Advisory and Trust. The Advisory segment provides investment advisory services to corporate retirement plans, public retirement plans, endowments, foundations, individuals, and the Westwood Funds; and investment sub-advisory services to mutual funds, pooled investment vehicles, and its Trust segment. The Trust segment offers trust and custodial services; and participates in common trust funds that it sponsors to institutions and high net worth individuals. Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Dallas, Texas.