Head-To-Head Analysis: Forge Global (NYSE:FRGE) vs. Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) and Forge Global (NYSE:FRGE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Lazard and Forge Global, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lazard	3	5	4	0	2.08
Forge Global	1	4	0	0	1.80

Lazard presently has a consensus price target of $52.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.31%. Forge Global has a consensus price target of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.00%. Given Lazard’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lazard is more favorable than Forge Global.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

54.8% of Lazard shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.7% of Forge Global shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Lazard shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Forge Global shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Lazard and Forge Global’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lazard	8.47%	29.30%	5.52%
Forge Global	-71.87%	-29.06%	-24.63%

Volatility & Risk

Lazard has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forge Global has a beta of 2.18, suggesting that its stock price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lazard and Forge Global”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lazard	$3.10 billion	1.54	$236.83 million	$2.53	16.94
Forge Global	$92.88 million	6.71	-$66.33 million	($5.20)	-8.65

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

Summary

Lazard beats Forge Global on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services. This segment offers its services to corporate, partnership, institutional, government, sovereign, and individual clients to various industry areas, including consumers, financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, power and energy/infrastructure, real estate, technology, telecommunication, and media and entertainment. The Asset Management segment offers a range of investment solutions; investment and wealth management services in equity and fixed income strategies; asset allocation strategies; and alternative investments and private equity funds to corporations, public funds, sovereign entities, endowments and foundations, labor funds, financial intermediaries, and private clients. Lazard, Inc. was incorporated in 1848 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Forge Global

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. operates a financial services platform in California. The company's platform solutions include trading solutions, a platform that connects investors with private company stockholders and enables them to facilitate private share transactions; and custody solutions, a non-depository trust company that enables clients to securely custody and manage assets through an online portal. It also provides data solutions, such as information and insight to navigate, analyze, and make investment decisions to market participants in the private market. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.