Contrasting CaliberCos (NASDAQ:CWD) & StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP)

StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP) and CaliberCos (NASDAQ:CWD) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

55.5% of StepStone Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.1% of CaliberCos shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.7% of StepStone Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of CaliberCos shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

StepStone Group has a beta of 1.29, suggesting that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CaliberCos has a beta of -0.1, suggesting that its share price is 110% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares StepStone Group and CaliberCos”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
StepStone Group	$1.99 billion	2.52	-$535.81 million	($7.72)	-5.45
CaliberCos	$20.10 million	0.21	-$21.80 million	($3.79)	-0.10

CaliberCos has lower revenue, but higher earnings than StepStone Group. StepStone Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CaliberCos, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares StepStone Group and CaliberCos’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
StepStone Group	-30.53%	43.38%	4.40%
CaliberCos	-117.34%	-75.44%	-13.87%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for StepStone Group and CaliberCos, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
StepStone Group	1	2	8	0	2.64
CaliberCos	1	0	0	0	1.00

StepStone Group presently has a consensus price target of $67.22, suggesting a potential upside of 59.90%. Given StepStone Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe StepStone Group is more favorable than CaliberCos.

Summary

StepStone Group beats CaliberCos on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About StepStone Group

StepStone Group Inc. is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in private debt, venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, buyout investments in mature and middle market companies. It prefers to invest in natural resources, technology, healthcare, services, materials, manufacturing, consumer durables, apparel, hotels, restaurants and leisure, media, retailing, power, utilities consumer staples, financials, telecommunication services, clean energy/renewables, transport, social, natural capital, infrastructure, corporate, real estate, credit and real asset. The firm invests globally with a focus on United States, North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, New Zealand, China, India, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia region. The firm invests between 5% and 40% in emerging markets. For fund of fund investment, it seeks to invest in private equity funds, venture capital funds, Special situation funds, Real estate funds, Infrastructure funds, mezzanine funds, and turnaround/distressed funds. It considers investments in both domestic and international funds. It also seeks to make co-investments and follow-on investments and considers partial interests in funds. StepStone Group Inc. was founded in 2007 and is based in New York, New York with additional offices across North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

About CaliberCos

Caliber (NASDAQ: CWD) is a vertically integrated alternative asset management firm whose purpose is to build generational wealth for investors seeking to access opportunities in middle-market assets. Caliber differentiates itself by creating, managing, and servicing proprietary products, including middle-market investment funds, private syndications, and direct investments which are managed by our in-house asset services group. Our funds include investment vehicles focused primarily on real estate, private equity, and debt facilities. Additional information can be found at Caliberco.com and CaliberFunds.co.