Ares Management (ARES) versus Its Competitors Head-To-Head Comparison

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) is one of 1,744 public companies in the “Capital Markets” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Ares Management to similar businesses based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Ares Management has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Management’s competitors have a beta of 0.81, meaning that their average share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ares Management and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ares Management	$5.60 billion	$527.36 million	104.07
Ares Management Competitors	$2.39 billion	$398.52 million	16.68

Ares Management has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Ares Management is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Ares Management and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ares Management	0	9	11	1	2.62
Ares Management Competitors	5546	20107	22440	641	2.37

Ares Management presently has a consensus target price of $146.21, suggesting a potential upside of 13.30%. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies have a potential upside of 25.95%. Given Ares Management’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ares Management has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

Ares Management pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Ares Management pays out 435.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 30.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Ares Management has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.0% of Ares Management shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.5% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are owned by institutional investors. 34.7% of Ares Management shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Ares Management and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ares Management	7.51%	25.74%	6.31%
Ares Management Competitors	321.05%	79.19%	3.72%

Summary

Ares Management beats its competitors on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

Ares Management Company Profile

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company's Tradable Credit Group segment manages various types of investment funds, such as commingled and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, and publicly traded vehicles and sub-advised funds for retail investors in the tradable and non-investment grade corporate credit markets. Its Direct Lending Group segment provides financing solutions to small-to-medium sized companies. The company's Private Equity Group segment focuses on majority or shared-control investments primarily in under-capitalized companies. Its Real Estate Group segment invests in new developments and the repositioning of assets, with a focus on control or majority-control investments; and originates and invests in a range of self-originated financing opportunities for middle-market owners and operators of commercial real estate. The firm was previously known as Ares Management, L.P. Ares Management Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ares Management GP LLC is the general partner of the company.