Comparing Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) & Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund (NYSE:PTY)

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) and Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund (NYSE:PTY) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Jefferies Financial Group has a beta of 1.54, suggesting that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Jefferies Financial Group and Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Jefferies Financial Group	$10.82 billion	0.96	$710.47 million	$3.58	14.92
Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund	$257.54 million	9.72	N/A	N/A	N/A

Jefferies Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Jefferies Financial Group and Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jefferies Financial Group	0	5	2	0	2.29
Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund	0	0	0	0	0.00

Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus target price of $62.62, indicating a potential upside of 17.23%. Given Jefferies Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Jefferies Financial Group is more favorable than Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund.

Profitability

This table compares Jefferies Financial Group and Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jefferies Financial Group	7.58%	9.23%	1.31%
Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Jefferies Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund pays an annual dividend of $1.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.0%. Jefferies Financial Group pays out 44.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

60.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.2% of Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Jefferies Financial Group beats Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services. The company also offers financing, securities lending, and other prime brokerage services; equities research, sales, and trading services; wealth management services; and online foreign exchange trading services. In addition, it provides investment grade distressed debt securities, U.S. and European government and agency securities, municipal bonds, leveraged loans, emerging markets debt, and interest rate and credit index derivative products; and manages and offers services to a diverse group of alternative asset management platforms across a spectrum of investment strategies and asset classes. The company was formerly known as Leucadia National Corporation and changed its name to Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in May 2018. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund

PIMCO Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Allianz Global Investors Fund Management LLC. It is co-managed by Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets across the globe. It invests in corporate debt obligations rated in the lowest investment grade category Baa or BBB and in the highest non-investment grade category Ba or BB. The fund focuses on intermediate maturity bonds across multiple industries and sectors. It employs fundamental analysis along with top-down approach to make its fixed income investments. The fund uses in-house research to make its investments. PIMCO Corporate Opportunity Fund was founded on December 27, 2002 and is domiciled in United States.