Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) and TPG (NASDAQ:TPG) Critical Survey

TPG (NASDAQ:TPG) and Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Profitability

This table compares TPG and Virtus Investment Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TPG	0.69%	23.45%	7.85%
Virtus Investment Partners	13.43%	20.64%	5.00%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares TPG and Virtus Investment Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TPG	$2.39 billion	10.19	$80.09 million	($0.34)	-196.17
Virtus Investment Partners	$845.27 million	1.75	$130.62 million	$16.45	12.78

Virtus Investment Partners has lower revenue, but higher earnings than TPG. TPG is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Virtus Investment Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

TPG has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Virtus Investment Partners has a beta of 1.48, meaning that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for TPG and Virtus Investment Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TPG	0	7	6	0	2.46
Virtus Investment Partners	2	1	1	0	1.75

TPG currently has a consensus target price of $63.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.55%. Virtus Investment Partners has a consensus target price of $238.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.45%. Given Virtus Investment Partners’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Virtus Investment Partners is more favorable than TPG.

Dividends

TPG pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Virtus Investment Partners pays an annual dividend of $9.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. TPG pays out -447.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Virtus Investment Partners pays out 54.7% 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.0% of TPG shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.5% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 76.5% of TPG shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

TPG beats Virtus Investment Partners on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TPG

TPG Inc. operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States and internationally. The company offers investment management services to TPG Funds, limited partners, and other vehicles. It also offers monitoring services to portfolio companies; advisory, debt and equity arrangement, and underwriting and placement services; and capital structuring and other advisory services to portfolio companies. In addition, the company invests in private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds, and credit funds. TPG Inc. was founded in 1992 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas. The company operates as a subsidiary of TPG GP A, LLC.

About Virtus Investment Partners

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individual and institutional clients. It launches separate client focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, and real estate markets. The firm also invests in exchange traded funds. It employs a multi manager approach for its products. The firm employs quantitative analysis to make its investments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against the S&P 500 Index. The firm conducts in-house research to make its investments. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Hartford, Connecticut.