Stifel Financial (SF) Competitors

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) and Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and media sentiment.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, SF or PIPR?

Stifel Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Piper Sandler Companies. Stifel Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Piper Sandler Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stifel Financial	$4.35B	1.96	$522.54M	$4.40	18.85
Piper Sandler Companies	$1.34B	2.82	$85.49M	$5.88	36.38

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SF or PIPR?

Piper Sandler Companies received 100 more outperform votes than Stifel Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.45% of users gave Piper Sandler Companies an outperform vote while only 55.56% of users gave Stifel Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Stifel Financial	Outperform Votes 270 55.56%	Underperform Votes 216 44.44%
Piper Sandler Companies	Outperform Votes 370 57.45%	Underperform Votes 274 42.55%

Which has more risk & volatility, SF or PIPR?

Stifel Financial has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piper Sandler Companies has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SF or PIPR a better dividend stock?

Stifel Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Piper Sandler Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Stifel Financial pays out 38.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Piper Sandler Companies pays out 40.8% 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. Stifel Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of SF or PIPR?

82.0% of Stifel Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.8% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Stifel Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Piper Sandler Companies shares are held by company 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.

Does the media favor SF or PIPR?

In the previous week, Stifel Financial had 1 more articles in the media than Piper Sandler Companies. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Stifel Financial and 4 mentions for Piper Sandler Companies. Stifel Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Piper Sandler Companies' score of 0.87 indicating that Stifel Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Stifel Financial	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Piper Sandler Companies	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer SF or PIPR?

Stifel Financial presently has a consensus target price of $84.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.89%. Piper Sandler Companies has a consensus target price of $181.50, suggesting a potential downside of 15.15%. Given Stifel Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Stifel Financial is more favorable than Piper Sandler Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stifel Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Piper Sandler Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is SF or PIPR more profitable?

Stifel Financial has a net margin of 11.34% compared to Piper Sandler Companies' net margin of 7.33%. Piper Sandler Companies' return on equity of 13.65% beat Stifel Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stifel Financial	11.34%	12.40%	1.51%
Piper Sandler Companies	7.33%	13.65%	8.85%

Summary

Stifel Financial beats Piper Sandler Companies on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.