Comparing Singapore Exchange (OTCMKTS:SPXCF) & MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)

Singapore Exchange (OTCMKTS:SPXCF) and MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) are both financial services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.6% of Singapore Exchange shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of MSCI shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of MSCI shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Singapore Exchange pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. MSCI pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Singapore Exchange pays out 94.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. MSCI pays out 43.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Singapore Exchange and MSCI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Singapore Exchange	N/A	N/A	N/A
MSCI	43.86%	-143.09%	21.30%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Singapore Exchange and MSCI, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Singapore Exchange	1	0	0	0	1.00
MSCI	0	7	9	0	2.56

MSCI has a consensus target price of $584.79, indicating a potential upside of 4.05%. Given MSCI’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MSCI is more favorable than Singapore Exchange.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Singapore Exchange and MSCI”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Singapore Exchange	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.30	30.45
MSCI	$2.70 billion	16.47	$1.15 billion	$14.65	38.36

MSCI has higher revenue and earnings than Singapore Exchange. Singapore Exchange is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MSCI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

MSCI beats Singapore Exchange on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Singapore Exchange

Singapore Exchange Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated securities and derivatives exchange, and related clearing houses in Singapore. It operates through Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities; Equities; and Data, Connectivity, and Indices segments. The Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities segment offers fixed income issuer, trading and clearing, and collateral management services. The Equities segment provides issuer, securities trading and clearing, securities settlement and depository management, derivatives trading and clearing, and collateral management services. The Data, Connectivity, and Indices segment offers market data, connectivity, and indices services. The company offers counterparty guarantee, and depository and related services for securities and derivatives transactions; bond trading services; front-line regulatory functions; and computer and software maintenance services. It also provides an electronic foreign exchange trading solutions and platform; electronic communication network; FX platform and support services; and management consultancy services for index activities. In addition, the company offers membership and management services to related corporations; distributes bulk freight market indices and information; and operates an electricity market, as well as provides administration services for index calculation, risk analyses, and financial research. Singapore Exchange Limited was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct. The Analytics segment offers risk management, performance attribution and portfolio management content, application, an integrated view of risk and return service, and an analysis of market, credit, liquidity, counterparty, and climate risk across asset classes; managed services, including consolidation of client portfolio data, review and reconciliation of input data and results, and customized reporting; and HedgePlatform to measure, evaluate, and monitor the risk of hedge fund investments. The ESG and Climate segment provides products and services that help institutional investors understand how ESG impacts the long-term risk and return of their portfolio and individual security-level investments; and data, ratings, research, and tools to help investors navigate increasing regulation. The All Other Private Assets segment includes real estate and infrastructure data, benchmarks, return-analytics, climate assessments and market insights; business intelligence to real estate owners, managers, developers, and brokers; and offers investment decision support tools for private capital. The Private Capital Solutions segment offers tools to help private asset investors across mission-critical workflows, such as sourcing terms and conditions, evaluating operating performance, managing risk and other activities supporting private capital investing. MSCI Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in New York, New York.