Analyzing Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) & Lion Group (NASDAQ:LGHL)

Lion Group (NASDAQ:LGHL) and Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Lion Group and Houlihan Lokey, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lion Group	1	0	0	0	1.00
Houlihan Lokey	0	4	5	0	2.56

Houlihan Lokey has a consensus price target of $204.57, suggesting a potential upside of 46.80%. Given Houlihan Lokey’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Houlihan Lokey is more favorable than Lion Group.

Volatility & Risk

Lion Group has a beta of 2.8, suggesting that its stock price is 180% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Houlihan Lokey has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.2% of Lion Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.1% of Houlihan Lokey shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.7% of Lion Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.8% of Houlihan Lokey shares are owned by company 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Lion Group and Houlihan Lokey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lion Group	-$40.95 million	0.00	-$27.45 million	N/A	N/A
Houlihan Lokey	$2.39 billion	4.07	$399.71 million	$6.51	21.41

Houlihan Lokey has higher revenue and earnings than Lion Group.

Profitability

This table compares Lion Group and Houlihan Lokey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lion Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Houlihan Lokey	16.91%	24.46%	14.44%

Summary

Houlihan Lokey beats Lion Group on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lion Group

Lion Group Holding Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates a trading platform for corporate clients, individual traders, and retail investors primarily in the People's Republic of China and Southeast Asia. Its trading platform offers a range of products and services comprising contracts for difference trading, over-the-counter stock options trading, futures and securities brokerage, and total return swap trading services through its Lion Brokers Pro app platform. The company's trading platform allows users to trade various futures products on futures exchanges worldwide, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Singapore Exchange, the Hong Kong Futures Exchange, and Eurex Exchange; stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Hong Kong Stock Exchange; and the People's Republic of China stocks listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange that are eligible for the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect programs. It markets its products mainly through search engines, social media, app stores, and third-party websites. Lion Group Holding Ltd. was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Houlihan Lokey

Houlihan Lokey, Inc., an investment banking company, provides merger and acquisition (M&A), capital market, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory services worldwide. It operates in three segments: Corporate Finance, Financial Restructuring, and Financial and Valuation Advisory. The Corporate Finance segment offers general financial advisory services; and advises public and private institutions on buy-side and sell-side transactions, leveraged loans, private mezzanine debt, high-yield debt, initial public offerings, follow-ons, convertibles, equity private placements, private equity, and liability management transactions, as well as advise financial sponsors on various transactions. The Financial Restructuring segment advises debtors, creditors, and other parties-in-interest related to recapitalization/deleveraging transactions. It also provides a range of advisory services, including structuring, negotiation, and confirmation of plans of reorganization; structuring and analysis of exchange offers; corporate viability assessment; dispute resolution and expert testimony; and procuring debtor-in-possession financing. The Financial and Valuation Advisory segment offers valuations of various assets, such as companies, illiquid debt and equity securities, and intellectual property. It also provides fairness opinions in connection with M&A and other transactions, solvency opinions in connection with corporate spin-offs and dividend recapitalizations, and other types of financial opinions. In addition, this segment offers dispute resolution services. It serves corporations, financial sponsors, and government agencies. The company was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.