Comparing PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) & Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN)

PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) and Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for PJT Partners and Canaan, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PJT Partners	2	2	2	1	2.29
Canaan	1	2	6	0	2.56

PJT Partners presently has a consensus target price of $173.33, suggesting a potential upside of 10.33%. Canaan has a consensus target price of $2.01, suggesting a potential upside of 525.26%. Given Canaan’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Canaan is more favorable than PJT Partners.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.2% of PJT Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.1% of Canaan shares are held by institutional investors. 11.0% of PJT Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Canaan shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares PJT Partners and Canaan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PJT Partners	10.32%	32.00%	17.92%
Canaan	-41.71%	-55.84%	-35.47%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares PJT Partners and Canaan”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PJT Partners	$1.71 billion	2.37	$180.12 million	$6.86	22.90
Canaan	$529.73 million	0.43	-$210.27 million	($0.34)	-0.94

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

Volatility and Risk

PJT Partners has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canaan has a beta of 2.53, suggesting that its share price is 153% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

PJT Partners beats Canaan on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PJT Partners

PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic and capital markets advisory, restructuring and special situations, and shareholder advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also advises private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; and strategic investor relations; environmental, social, and governance matters; and other investor-related matters. In addition, it provides advisory services related to debt and acquisition financings; structured product offerings; public equity raises, including initial public offering and SPAC offerings; and private capital raises for early and later stage companies, as well as other capital structure related matters. Further, the company offers advisory services in financial restructurings and reorganizations; liability management; distressed mergers and acquisitions; and to management teams, corporate boards, sponsors and creditors. Additionally, it provides private fund advisory and fundraising services for a range of investment strategies; and advisory services to general and partners on liquidity and other structured solutions. The company was formerly known as Blackstone Advisory Inc. and changed its name to PJT Partners Inc. in March 2015. PJT Partners Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Canaan

Canaan Inc. engages in the research, design, and sale of integrated circuit (IC) final mining equipment products by integrating IC products for bitcoin mining and related components in the People's Republic of China. It is also involved in the assembly and distribution of mining equipment and spare parts. The company has operations in the United States, Australia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Canada, Mainland China, Thailand, Sweden, and internationally. Canaan Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Singapore.