Critical Analysis: WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) and BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust (NYSE:BIT)

BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust (NYSE:BIT) and WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust and WisdomTree, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00
WisdomTree	0	4	2	0	2.33

WisdomTree has a consensus price target of $20.66, indicating a potential downside of 2.72%. Given WisdomTree’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WisdomTree is more favorable than BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust and WisdomTree”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust	$55.85 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
WisdomTree	$493.75 million	6.52	$109.13 million	$0.52	40.84

WisdomTree has higher revenue and earnings than BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.6% of WisdomTree shares are held by institutional investors. 10.1% of WisdomTree shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.0%. WisdomTree pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. WisdomTree pays out 23.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust and WisdomTree’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A
WisdomTree	13.27%	39.12%	10.29%

Summary

WisdomTree beats BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust

BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust is a close ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc. It is co-managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC and BlackRock (Singapore) Limited. The fund invests in fixed income markets. It invests primarily in loan and debt instruments and other investments with similar economic characteristic. BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust was formed on February 25, 2013 and is domiciled in the United States.

About WisdomTree

WisdomTree, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an exchange-traded funds (ETFs) sponsor and asset manager. It offers ETFs in equities, currency, fixed income, and alternatives asset classes. The company also licenses its indexes to third parties for proprietary products, as well as offers a platform to promote the use of WisdomTree ETFs in 401(k) plans. It develops index using its fundamentally weighted index methodology. In addition, the company provides investment advisory services. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in New York, New York.