Contrasting Value Line (NASDAQ:VALU) and B. Riley Financial (NASDAQ:RILY)

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares B. Riley Financial and Value Line”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
B. Riley Financial	$1.44 billion	0.09	-$99.91 million	($27.77)	-0.16
Value Line	$35.86 million	10.41	$19.02 million	$2.35	16.87

Value Line has lower revenue, but higher earnings than B. Riley Financial. B. Riley Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Value Line, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.2% of B. Riley Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.3% of Value Line shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.9% of B. Riley Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Value Line shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares B. Riley Financial and Value Line’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
B. Riley Financial	-48.04%	-236.88%	-11.40%
Value Line	62.02%	24.00%	16.20%

Dividends

B. Riley Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 44.8%. Value Line pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. B. Riley Financial pays out -7.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Value Line pays out 51.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. B. Riley Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

B. Riley Financial has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Value Line has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Value Line beats B. Riley Financial on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About B. Riley Financial

B. Riley Financial, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides financial services to corporate, institutional, and high net worth clients in North America, Australia, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through six segments: Capital Markets, Wealth Management, Financial Consulting, Auction and Liquidation, Communications, and Consumer. The Capital Markets segments offers investment banking, equity research, institutional sales and trading, securities lending, fund and asset management, direct lending, venture capital, proprietary trading, and investment services; merger and acquisition, restructuring advisory, and recapitalization services; public and private equity offerings; and debt financing solutions. This segment also trades in equity securities. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management and tax services. The Financial Consulting segment offers bankruptcy restructuring and turnaround management, forensic accounting and litigation support, valuation and appraisal, and real estate services. The Auction and Liquidation Segment provides auction and liquidation services. The Communications segment offers dial-up, mobile broadband and digital subscriber line services under the NetZero and Juno brands; cloud communication services; VoIP cloud-based technology and communication devices and subscription services through magicJack; and mobile phone voice, text, and data services and devices through Marconi Wireless. The Consumer segment sells laptop and computer accessories. The company was formerly known as Great American Group, Inc. and changed its name to B. Riley Financial, Inc. in November 2014. B. Riley Financial, Inc. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Value Line

Value Line, Inc. produces and sells investment periodicals and related publications. Its investment periodicals and related publications cover a range of investments, including stocks, mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), and options. The company's research services include The Value Line Investment Survey, The Value Line Investment Survey – Small and Mid-Cap, The Value Line 600, and The Value Line Fund Advisor Plus that provide statistical and text coverage of various investment securities, with an emphasis placed on its proprietary research, analysis, and statistical ranks. It also provides niche newsletters comprising Value Line Select: Dividend Income & Growth, Value Line Select: ETFs, The Value Line Special Situations Service, The Value Line M&A Service, The Value Line Climate Change Investing Service, and The Value Line Information You Should Know Wealth Newsletter that offer information on a less comprehensive basis for securities that are of particular interest to subscribers; digital versions of its products through its Website, www.valueline.com; The Value Line Research Center online platform; and investment analysis software, such as The Value Line Investment Analyzer and The New Value Line ETFs Service. In addition, the company offers current and historical financial databases comprising fundamental DataFile, estimates and projections, and mutual funds; and copyright products, which include unit investment trusts, variable annuities, managed accounts, and ETFs. Further, it operates as publishing unit for the investment related periodical publications and copyrights; places advertising on behalf of the company's publications; and distributes print publications. It serves individual and professional investors, as well as institutions, including municipal and university libraries, and investment firms. The company was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Value Line, Inc. is a subsidiary of Arnold Bernhard & Co., Inc.