Contrasting Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) and CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF)

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) and CI Financial (NYSE:CIXXF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Ameriprise Financial and CI Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameriprise Financial	1	5	4	0	2.30
CI Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Ameriprise Financial currently has a consensus price target of $463.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.20%. Given Ameriprise Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ameriprise Financial is more favorable than CI Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and CI Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameriprise Financial	18.64%	73.83%	1.94%
CI Financial	-1.90%	50.83%	5.21%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $5.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. CI Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Ameriprise Financial pays out 20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CI Financial pays out -67.0% 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. Ameriprise Financial has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years. CI Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ameriprise Financial and CI Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameriprise Financial	$15.54 billion	2.96	$2.56 billion	$29.38	15.95
CI Financial	$2.03 billion	1.01	$3.72 million	($0.88)	-15.49

Ameriprise Financial has higher revenue and earnings than CI Financial. CI Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameriprise Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CI Financial has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats CI Financial on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services to individual and institutional clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Advice & Wealth Management, Asset Management, Retirement & Protection Solutions, and Corporate & Other. The Advice & Wealth Management segment provides financial planning and advice; brokerage products and services for retail and institutional clients; discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory accounts; mutual funds; insurance and annuities products; cash management and banking products; and face-amount certificates. The Asset Management segment offers investment management, advice, and products to retail, high net worth, and institutional clients through third-party financial institutions, advisor networks, direct retail, and its institutional sales force under the Columbia Threadneedle Investments brand name. This segment products include U.S. mutual funds and their non-U.S. equivalents, exchange-traded funds, variable product funds underlying insurance, and annuity separate accounts; and institutional asset management products, such as traditional asset classes, separately managed accounts, individually managed accounts, collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds, collective funds, and property and infrastructure funds. The Retirement & Protection Solutions segment provides variable annuity products, as well as life and disability income insurance products to retail clients. The company was formerly known as American Express Financial Corporation and changed its name to Ameriprise Financial, Inc. in September 2005. Ameriprise Financial, Inc. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About CI Financial

CI Financial Corp. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm manages separate client focused equity, fixed income, and alternative investments portfolios. It also manages mutual funds, hedge funds, and fund of funds for its clients through its subsidiaries. The firm was founded in 1965 and is based in Toronto, Canada with additional offices in Vancouver, Canada; Calgary, Canada; and Montreal, Canada.