Reviewing PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX) & Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW)

PhenixFIN (NYSE:PFX) and Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

43.3% of PhenixFIN shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.4% of Charles Schwab shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.2% of PhenixFIN shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Charles Schwab shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

PhenixFIN has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Charles Schwab has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

PhenixFIN pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Charles Schwab pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. PhenixFIN pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Charles Schwab pays out 23.3% 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. Charles Schwab has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Charles Schwab is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares PhenixFIN and Charles Schwab’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%
Charles Schwab	38.79%	24.53%	2.14%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for PhenixFIN and Charles Schwab, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PhenixFIN	0	0	0	1	4.00
Charles Schwab	1	3	16	1	2.81

Charles Schwab has a consensus price target of $121.17, suggesting a potential upside of 15.25%. Given Charles Schwab’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Charles Schwab is more favorable than PhenixFIN.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares PhenixFIN and Charles Schwab”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PhenixFIN	$14.16 million	6.28	$18.62 million	$2.41	19.09
Charles Schwab	$23.92 billion	7.60	$8.85 billion	$5.50	19.12

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

Summary

Charles Schwab beats PhenixFIN on 13 of the 17 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 Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services. It offers brokerage accounts with equity and fixed income trading, margin lending, options trading, futures and forex trading, and cash management capabilities, including certificates of deposit; third-party mutual funds through the Mutual Fund Marketplace and Mutual Fund OneSource service, as well as mutual fund trading and clearing services to broker-dealers; exchange-traded funds; advisory solutions for managed portfolios, separately managed accounts, customized personal advice for tailored portfolios, specialized planning, and full-time portfolio management; banking products comprising checking and savings accounts, first lien residential real estate mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, and pledged asset lines; and trust custody services, personal trust reporting services, and administrative trustee services. It also provides digital retirement calculators; integrated web-, mobile-, and software-based trading platforms, real-time market data, options trading, premium research, and multi-channel access; self-service education and support tools; online research and analysis tools; equity compensation plan sponsors full-service recordkeeping for stock plans, stock options, restricted stock, performance shares, and stock appreciation rights; retirement plan services; mutual fund clearing services; and advisor services, including interactive tools and educational content. The Company operates through branch offices. The Charles Schwab Corporation was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Westlake, Texas.