GAMCO Investors (NYSE:GAMI – Get Rating) and Freedom (NASDAQ:FRHC – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

30.5% of GAMCO Investors shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.0% of Freedom shares are held by institutional investors. 81.2% of GAMCO Investors shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 71.6% of Freedom shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for GAMCO Investors and Freedom, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Profitability

This table compares GAMCO Investors and Freedom's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Volatility & Risk

GAMCO Investors has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Freedom has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares GAMCO Investors and Freedom's gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Freedom has higher revenue and earnings than GAMCO Investors.

Summary

GAMCO Investors beats Freedom on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GAMCO Investors

(Get Rating)

GAMCO Investors, Inc. is a publicly owned holding investment manager. The firm also provides wealth management, investment advisory, institutional research, brokerage, dealer, underwriting, and distribution services to its clients. It provides its services to individuals including high net worth individuals, corporate pension and profit-sharing plans, foundations, endowments, jointly trust plans, municipalities, and investment companies. The firm, through its subsidiaries, manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds and manages equity mutual funds for its clients. Through its subsidiaries the firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It invests in value stocks of companies. The firm employs fundamental analysis with a focus on bottom-up stock picking approach to create its portfolios. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. The firm was founded in 1976 and is based in Rye, New York with additional offices in Greenwich, Connecticut; Bannockburn, Illinois; and Tokyo, Japan. GAMCO Investors, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Ggcp Holdings Llc.

About Freedom

(Get Rating)

Freedom Holding Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides retail securities brokerage, research, investment counseling, securities trading, market making, retail banking, corporate investment banking, and underwriting services. The company offers investment brokerage services for exchange-traded and over-the-counter corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange traded options and futures contracts, government bonds, and mutual funds; margin lending services collateralized by securities and cash in the customer's account; various investment education and training courses; investment research services; and commercial banking services, including payment cards, digital mortgages, and digital auto loans, as well as insurance products. It also provides capital raising solutions for corporate clients through initial public offerings and follow-on offerings; and debt capital markets solutions that focuses on structuring and distributing private and public debt for various purposes, including buyouts, acquisitions, growth capital financings, and recapitalizations. In addition, the company is involved in trading, investment, and brokerage activities. Further, it facilitates repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements in proprietary trading activities; and covers short positions and settle other securities obligations to accommodate customers' needs and finance its inventory positions. Additionally, the company offers Tradernet software platform for client margin risk evaluation and middle office security transfer requests. It operates in Central Asia, Europe, the United States, Russia, and the Middle East/Caucasus. The company was formerly known as BMB Munai, Inc. and changed its name to Freedom Holding Corp. Freedom Holding Corp. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

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