Critical Survey: Templeton Emerging Markets Fund (NYSE:EMF) & Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS)

Templeton Emerging Markets Fund (NYSE:EMF) and Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

49.9% of Templeton Emerging Markets Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.5% of Cohen & Steers shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.4% of Cohen & Steers shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Templeton Emerging Markets Fund has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cohen & Steers has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Templeton Emerging Markets Fund pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Cohen & Steers pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Cohen & Steers pays out 82.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cohen & Steers has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Templeton Emerging Markets Fund and Cohen & Steers”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Templeton Emerging Markets Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cohen & Steers	$604.74 million	6.92	$153.22 million	$3.26	24.98

Cohen & Steers has higher revenue and earnings than Templeton Emerging Markets Fund.

Profitability

This table compares Templeton Emerging Markets Fund and Cohen & Steers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Templeton Emerging Markets Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cohen & Steers	28.82%	27.41%	19.58%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Templeton Emerging Markets Fund and Cohen & Steers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Templeton Emerging Markets Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00
Cohen & Steers	1	1	2	0	2.25

Cohen & Steers has a consensus price target of $78.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.22%. Given Cohen & Steers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cohen & Steers is more favorable than Templeton Emerging Markets Fund.

Summary

Cohen & Steers beats Templeton Emerging Markets Fund on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Templeton Emerging Markets Fund

Templeton Emerging Markets Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by Franklin Resources Inc. The fund is managed by Templeton Asset Management Ltd. It invests in the public equity markets of emerging market countries across the globe. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in value stocks of companies. The fund employs fundamental analysis with a focus on such factors as long-term earnings, asset value, and cash flow potential to create its portfolio. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Templeton Emerging Markets Fund was formed on February 26, 1987 and is domiciled in the United States.

About Cohen & Steers

Cohen & Steers, Inc. is a holding company, which operates as an investment manager specializing in liquid real assets, which include real estate securities, listed infrastructure, commodities, natural resource equities, preferred securities, and other income solutions. It manages investment vehicles, such as institutional accounts, open-end funds and closed-end funds. The company was founded by Martin Cohen and Robert Hamilton Steers in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, NY.