Head-To-Head Survey: PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) & Abacus Life (NASDAQ:ABL)

Abacus Life (NASDAQ:ABL) and PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.2% of PJT Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 79.2% of Abacus Life shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.7% of PJT Partners shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Abacus Life and PJT Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Abacus Life	$79.59 million	7.91	$9.52 million	($0.18)	-46.83
PJT Partners	$1.15 billion	3.20	$145.68 million	$3.94	39.50

PJT Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Abacus Life. Abacus Life is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PJT Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Abacus Life and PJT Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Abacus Life	-11.65%	12.88%	6.51%
PJT Partners	8.03%	18.79%	11.24%

Volatility & Risk

Abacus Life has a beta of 0.15, indicating that its share price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PJT Partners has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Abacus Life and PJT Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Abacus Life	0	0	5	1	3.17
PJT Partners	2	3	1	0	1.83

Abacus Life currently has a consensus price target of $14.50, indicating a potential upside of 72.00%. PJT Partners has a consensus price target of $123.80, indicating a potential downside of 20.45%. Given Abacus Life’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Abacus Life is more favorable than PJT Partners.

Summary

PJT Partners beats Abacus Life on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Abacus Life

Abacus Life, Inc. operates as an alternative asset manager specializing in life insurance products. It purchases life insurance policies from consumers seeking liquidity and manages policies over time via trading, holding, and/or servicing. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Orlando, Florida.

About PJT Partners

PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic and capital markets advisory, restructuring and special situations, and shareholder advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also advises private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; and strategic investor relations; environmental, social, and governance matters; and other investor-related matters. In addition, it provides advisory services related to debt and acquisition financings; structured product offerings; public equity raises, including initial public offering and SPAC offerings; and private capital raises for early and later stage companies, as well as other capital structure related matters. Further, the company offers advisory services in financial restructurings and reorganizations; liability management; distressed mergers and acquisitions; and to management teams, corporate boards, sponsors and creditors. Additionally, it provides private fund advisory and fundraising services for a range of investment strategies; and advisory services to general and partners on liquidity and other structured solutions. The company was formerly known as Blackstone Advisory Inc. and changed its name to PJT Partners Inc. in March 2015. PJT Partners Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York.