Reviewing Jernigan Capital (NASDAQ:JCAP) & American Express (NYSE:AXP)

American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Jernigan Capital (NASDAQ:JCAP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for American Express and Jernigan Capital, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Express	1	16	12	1	2.43
Jernigan Capital	1	0	5	1	2.86

American Express currently has a consensus price target of $366.96, indicating a potential upside of 21.20%. Jernigan Capital has a consensus price target of $27.50, indicating a potential upside of 42.86%. Given Jernigan Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Jernigan Capital is more favorable than American Express.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.3% of American Express shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Express shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of Jernigan Capital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

American Express pays an annual dividend of $3.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Jernigan Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. American Express pays out 23.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Jernigan Capital pays out 39.2% 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. American Express has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares American Express and Jernigan Capital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Express	15.07%	34.12%	3.77%
Jernigan Capital	23.50%	35.87%	8.16%

Volatility & Risk

American Express has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jernigan Capital has a beta of -0.02, meaning that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares American Express and Jernigan Capital”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Express	$72.23 billion	2.83	$10.83 billion	$16.48	18.37
Jernigan Capital	$613.29 million	1.80	$187.96 million	$2.45	7.86

American Express has higher revenue and earnings than Jernigan Capital. Jernigan Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Express, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

American Express beats Jernigan Capital on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. The company’s products and services include credit card, charge card, banking, and other payment and financing products; network services; expense management products and services; and travel and lifestyle services. It also provides merchant acquisition and processing, servicing and settlement, point-of-sale marketing, and information products and services for merchants; and fraud prevention services, as well as the design and operation of customer loyalty programs. In addition, the company operates lounges at airports under Centurion Lounge brand name. It sells its products and services to consumers, small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations through mobile and online applications, affiliate marketing, customer referral programs, third-party service providers and business partners, direct mail, telephone, in-house sales teams, and direct response advertising. American Express Company was founded in 1850 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Jernigan Capital

Jernigan Capital is a New York Stock Exchange-listed real estate investment trust (NYSE: JCAP) that provides debt and equity capital to private developers, owners and operators of self-storage facilities with a view to eventual outright ownership of facilities the Company finances. The Company's mission is to maximize shareholder value by accumulating a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio consisting of the newest, most attractive and best located self-storage facilities in the United States through a talented and experienced team demonstrating the highest levels of integrity, dedication, excellence and community.