Critical Analysis: Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG) and Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV)

Barings Participation Investors (NYSE:MPV) and Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Barings Participation Investors has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Silvercrest Asset Management Group has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Barings Participation Investors and Silvercrest Asset Management Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	$125.32 million	1.24	$4.89 million	$0.53	24.79

Silvercrest Asset Management Group has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Participation Investors.

Profitability

This table compares Barings Participation Investors and Silvercrest Asset Management Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barings Participation Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	3.90%	11.99%	7.44%

Dividends

Barings Participation Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays out 158.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Silvercrest Asset Management Group has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

47.6% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Barings Participation Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.4% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Barings Participation Investors and Silvercrest Asset Management Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barings Participation Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	1	0	0	1	2.50

Summary

Silvercrest Asset Management Group beats Barings Participation Investors on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Barings Participation Investors

Barings Participation Investors is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in below-investment grade, long-term corporate debt obligations which are directly purchased from its issuers. The fund also seeks to invest in warrants, conversion rights, or other equity related instruments. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Standard and Poor's Industrials Composite, Russell 2000 Index, Lehman Brothers U.S. High Yield Index, and Lehman Brothers Intermediate U.S. Credit Index. The fund was formerly known as Babson Capital Participation Investors. Barings Participation Investors was formed on April 7, 1988 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Silvercrest Asset Management Group

Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc., a wealth management firm, provides financial advisory and related family office services in the United States. The company serves ultra-high net worth individuals and families, as well as their trusts; endowments; foundations; and other institutional investors. It also manages funds of funds and other investment funds. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in New York, New York.