Financial Contrast: Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) and Noah (NYSE:NOAH)

Barings Corporate Investors (NYSE:MCI) and Noah (NYSE:NOAH) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Barings Corporate Investors pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. Noah pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Noah pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.7% of Noah shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Barings Corporate Investors shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 47.2% of Noah shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Barings Corporate Investors and Noah, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barings Corporate Investors	0	0	0	0	0.00
Noah	1	2	1	0	2.00

Noah has a consensus target price of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.33%. Given Noah’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Noah is more favorable than Barings Corporate Investors.

Profitability

This table compares Barings Corporate Investors and Noah’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A
Noah	22.17%	6.44%	5.44%

Volatility & Risk

Barings Corporate Investors has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Noah has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Barings Corporate Investors and Noah”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barings Corporate Investors	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Noah	$356.33 million	2.22	$65.14 million	$1.12	10.68

Noah has higher revenue and earnings than Barings Corporate Investors.

Summary

Noah beats Barings Corporate Investors on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Barings Corporate Investors

Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Barings LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in securities of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in a portfolio of privately placed, below-investment grade, long term corporate debt obligations. The fund also invests in marketable investment grade debt securities, other marketable debt securities, and marketable common stocks. It was formerly known as Babson Capital Corporate Investors. Babson Capital Corporate Investors trust was formed in 1971 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Noah

Noah Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a wealth and asset management service provider with the focus on investment and asset allocation services for high net worth individuals and enterprises in Mainland of China, Hong Kong, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Wealth Management, Asset Management, and Other Services. The company offers investment products, including domestic and overseas mutual fund products, private secondary products, and other products; customized value-added financial services, such as investor education and trust services, as well as insurance brokerage services; and insurance products. It also provides onshore and offshore private equity, real estate, public securities, multi-strategy, and other investment products, as well as lending services. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.