Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) vs. Highest Performances (NASDAQ:HPH) Critical Analysis

Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) and Highest Performances (NASDAQ:HPH) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.4% of Hamilton Lane shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.8% of Hamilton Lane shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 87.6% of Highest Performances shares are owned 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Hamilton Lane and Highest Performances, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hamilton Lane	0	6	0	0	2.00
Highest Performances	0	0	0	0	N/A

Hamilton Lane presently has a consensus target price of $127.60, suggesting a potential downside of 10.83%. Given Hamilton Lane’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Hamilton Lane is more favorable than Highest Performances.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hamilton Lane and Highest Performances’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hamilton Lane	$625.54 million	12.35	$140.86 million	$3.69	38.78
Highest Performances	$81.59 million	6.33	-$6.01 million	N/A	N/A

Hamilton Lane has higher revenue and earnings than Highest Performances.

Volatility & Risk

Hamilton Lane has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Highest Performances has a beta of -0.17, suggesting that its stock price is 117% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hamilton Lane and Highest Performances’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hamilton Lane	25.43%	31.07%	16.79%
Highest Performances	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Hamilton Lane beats Highest Performances on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hamilton Lane

Hamilton Lane Incorporated is a private equity firm specializing in early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, middle market, mature, mid-venture, bridge, buyout, distressed/vulture, loan, mezzanine in growth capital companies. It prefers to invest in energy, industrials, consumer discretionary, health care, real estate, information technology, utilities, and consumer services. The firm prefers to invest in Africa/Middle East, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, United States of America, and Canada. The firm prefers to invest between $1 million and $100 million. It prefers to take majority stake. Hamilton Lane Incorporated was founded in 1991 and is based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania with additional offices across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

About Highest Performances

Highest Performances Holdings Inc. engages in the provision of financial technology services in China. The company distributes publicly raised fund and privately raised securities investment fund products through online and offline. It also offers insurance consulting, trust consulting, asset management, wealth management, and other ancillary services. The company was formerly known as Puyi Inc. and changed its name to Highest Performances Holdings Inc. in March 2024. Highest Performances Holdings Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Guangzhou, China.