Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) and ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN (NASDAQ:GLDI) Head-To-Head Contrast

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) and ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN (NASDAQ:GLDI) are both financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Virtu Financial and ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Virtu Financial	$3.50 billion	1.51	$276.42 million	$4.62	7.49
ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.78	215.41

Virtu Financial has higher revenue and earnings than ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN. Virtu Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Virtu Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Virtu Financial pays out 20.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN pays out 205.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Virtu Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

45.8% of Virtu Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.0% of ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN shares are owned by institutional investors. 47.2% of Virtu Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Virtu Financial and ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Virtu Financial	12.09%	41.04%	3.57%
ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Virtu Financial has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN has a beta of 0.06, indicating that its share price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Virtu Financial and ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Virtu Financial	0	1	1	0	2.50
ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN	0	0	0	0	0.00

Summary

Virtu Financial beats ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc., a financial services company, provides data, analytics, and connectivity products to clients worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Market Making and Execution Services. Its product suite includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, and multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology. The company’s solutions enable clients to trade on various venues across countries and in multiple asset classes, including global equities, ETFs, foreign exchange, futures, fixed income, cryptocurrencies, and other commodities. Its analytics platform provides a range of pre- and post-trade services, data products, and compliance tools for clients to invest, trade, and manage risk across markets. Virtu Financial, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About ETRACS Gold Shares Covered Call ETN

luxury british cocoa grower and chocolatier, hotel chocolat, was founded in 2004 to make exciting chocolate with three guiding principles – authenticity, originality and ethics – which remain central to the brand’s success today. with its rabot estate cocoa plantation in saint lucia, a chocolate manufacturing facility in cambridgeshire and stores across the uk and internationally, hotel chocolat occupies a unique space – being able to link all aspects of chocolate from the tree to the consumer. they also have concessions in john lewis stores nationwide and in david jones, australia. in 2011 hotel chocolat opened a boutique hotel in the grounds of rabot estate on saint lucia, which is also home to boucan restaurant and its pioneering menu of ‘cacao cuisine’. in 2013 hotel chocolat opened two cocoa cuisine restaurants inspired by boucan – rabot 1745 in london’s borough market and roast+conch in leeds. both restaurants reconnect the world of cocoa growing with the luxury of eating it. rec