Head-To-Head Comparison: Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC) vs. Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP)

Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC) and Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and Ameriprise Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ameriprise Financial	18.30%	65.90%	2.02%

Dividends

Sound Point Meridian Capital pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.1%. Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Sound Point Meridian Capital pays out 211.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ameriprise Financial pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameriprise Financial has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sound Point Meridian Capital	0	1	1	1	3.00
Ameriprise Financial	2	5	2	1	2.20

Sound Point Meridian Capital presently has a consensus target price of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.48%. Ameriprise Financial has a consensus target price of $539.50, indicating a potential upside of 12.65%. Given Sound Point Meridian Capital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Sound Point Meridian Capital is more favorable than Ameriprise Financial.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and Ameriprise Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.42	11.69
Ameriprise Financial	$17.26 billion	2.62	$3.40 billion	$32.14	14.90

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

Insider & Institutional 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 hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Sound Point Meridian Capital has a beta of 0.22, suggesting that its stock price is 78% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Sound Point Meridian Capital on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sound Point Meridian Capital

Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end management investment company. Its investment objective is to generate high current income, with a secondary objective to generate capital appreciation, by investing primarily in third-party collateralized loan obligation equity and mezzanine tranches. Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is based in NEW YORK.

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.