ARES vs. LPLA: Ares Management vs. LPL Financial Stock Comparison

Company Profile

Ares Management (ARES) and LPL Financial (LPLA) both belong to the Capital Markets industry, though ARES is classified under Asset Management & Custody Banks while LPLA falls under Investment Banking & Brokerage.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Ares Management (ARES) has an aggressive beta of 1.45, indicating higher sensitivity to broad-market moves, while LPL Financial (LPLA) is defensive at 0.52 and tends to be less market-sensitive — they sit on opposite ends of the beta spectrum.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Capital efficiency shows on one side only: LPL Financial (LPLA) earns 25.66% on shareholders’ equity, ranked against its industry; Ares Management (ARES) has no ROE this period.

Both Ares Management (ARES) at 8.69% and LPL Financial (LPLA) at 6.97% keep about the typical share of revenue as profit for their industries — neither bottom line stands out from peers.

Both Ares Management (ARES) at 2.89% and LPL Financial (LPLA) at 10.85% generate less operating profit per sales dollar than peers, sitting in the lower operating margin quartile of their industries.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Both Ares Management (ARES) at 44.19% and LPL Financial (LPLA) at 37.18% sit in the top peer quartile for revenue growth, so each is growing its top line faster than typical industry peers.

Both Ares Management (ARES) at -16.67% and LPL Financial (LPLA) at -22.17% land near their industries' usual EPS growth ranges, so bottom-line momentum looks broadly in line with peers on both sides.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

current ratio doesn’t apply on either side: Ares Management (ARES) in Financial Services and LPL Financial (LPLA) in Financial Services both report balance sheets without a current/non-current split, so their short-term liquidity is better judged through regulatory and funding measures.

debt-to-equity ratio is set aside for both: Ares Management (ARES) in Financial Services and LPL Financial (LPLA) in Financial Services run businesses where balance-sheet leverage is part of the model, so capital-adequacy and funding measures are the better gauges of balance-sheet risk.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Both Ares Management (ARES) at 3.87% and LPL Financial (LPLA) at 0.40% pay solid, industry-typical yields, sitting squarely within their peers’ usual range.

Ares Management (ARES) reports payout ratio above 100% at 423.77%, meaning dividends exceeded current-period earnings and sustainability needs extra context. Meanwhile LPL Financial (LPLA) reports 6.88%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

LPL Financial (LPLA) at 16.93 is near its industry’s usual P/E ratio, while Ares Management (ARES) at 109.82 sits above its peer range — an unusually expensive price for ARES’s trailing earnings.

LPL Financial (LPLA) at 1.15 looks cheap on sales in the lower P/S ratio quartile, while Ares Management (ARES) at 8.92 looks rich in the upper quartile — a clear gap in price per dollar of revenue.

Both look rich against book: LPL Financial (LPLA) at 3.98 sits in the upper P/B ratio quartile, and Ares Management (ARES) at 12.15 prices even higher, above its industry range.

Valuation Metrics