Head-To-Head Review: The Carlyle Group L.P. (CG) and Artisan Partners Asset Management (APAM)

The Carlyle Group L.P. (NASDAQ: CG) and Artisan Partners Asset Management (NYSE:APAM) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for The Carlyle Group L.P. and Artisan Partners Asset Management, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
The Carlyle Group L.P.	0	4	5	0	2.56
Artisan Partners Asset Management	1	4	2	0	2.14

The Carlyle Group L.P. presently has a consensus price target of $22.88, indicating a potential upside of 9.71%. Artisan Partners Asset Management has a consensus price target of $29.50, indicating a potential downside of 1.34%. Given The Carlyle Group L.P.’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe The Carlyle Group L.P. is more favorable than Artisan Partners Asset Management.

Dividends

The Carlyle Group L.P. pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.1%. Artisan Partners Asset Management pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.0%. The Carlyle Group L.P. pays out 128.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Artisan Partners Asset Management pays out 145.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. The Carlyle Group L.P. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares The Carlyle Group L.P. and Artisan Partners Asset Management’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
The Carlyle Group L.P.	$3.21 billion	0.59	$894.40 million	$1.31	15.92
Artisan Partners Asset Management	$745.91 million	1.99	$250.43 million	$1.65	18.12

The Carlyle Group L.P. has higher revenue and earnings than Artisan Partners Asset Management. The Carlyle Group L.P. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Artisan Partners Asset Management, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

The Carlyle Group L.P. has a beta of 1.83, meaning that its share price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Artisan Partners Asset Management has a beta of 1.75, meaning that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares The Carlyle Group L.P. and Artisan Partners Asset Management’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
The Carlyle Group L.P.	4.13%	41.32%	7.03%
Artisan Partners Asset Management	11.37%	78.75%	9.79%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

42.8% of The Carlyle Group L.P. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.0% of Artisan Partners Asset Management shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

The Carlyle Group L.P. Company Profile

The Carlyle Group L.P. is a diversified multi-product global alternative asset management firm. The Company operates in four segments: Corporate Private Equity (CPE), Real Assets, Global Market Strategies (GMS) and Investment Solutions. Corporate Private Equity advises its buyout and growth capital funds, which pursue various corporate investments of different sizes and growth potentials. As of December 31, 2016, the Real Assets segment advised its 26 active carry funds focused on real estate, infrastructure and energy and natural resources (including power). As of December 31, 2016, the Global Market Strategies segment advised a group of 57 active funds that pursue investment strategies, including leveraged loans and structured credit, energy mezzanine opportunities, middle market lending and distressed debt. Its Investment Solutions segment provides investment opportunities and resources for its investors and clients.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Company Profile

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. is an investment management company. The Company provides a range of the United States, non-United States and global investment strategies, each of which is managed by one of its investment teams. The Company provides investment management services to separate accounts, mutual funds and other pooled investment vehicles. The Company offers its investment management services primarily to institutions and through intermediaries that operate with institutional-like decision-making processes and have long-term investment horizons. The Company provides clients with multiple equity investment strategies spanning market capitalization segments and investing styles in both the United States and non-United States markets. The Company also offers one fixed income strategy, the Artisan High Income strategy. Each strategy is managed by one of the investment teams.