Analyzing Fairfax India (OTCMKTS:FFXDF) & Noah (NYSE:NOAH)

Fairfax India (OTCMKTS:FFXDF) and Noah (NYSE:NOAH) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Fairfax India has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Noah has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Fairfax India and Noah’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fairfax India	N/A	2.21%	1.76%
Noah	22.17%	6.44%	5.44%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.2% of Fairfax India shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.7% of Noah shares are held by institutional investors. 47.2% of Noah shares are held by 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Fairfax India and Noah”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fairfax India	$100.05 million	23.52	-$41.17 million	$0.47	37.04
Noah	$356.33 million	2.08	$65.14 million	$1.12	10.02

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Fairfax India and Noah, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fairfax India	0	0	0	0	0.00
Noah	0	2	1	0	2.33

Noah has a consensus target price of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.91%. Given Noah’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Noah is more favorable than Fairfax India.

Summary

Noah beats Fairfax India on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fairfax India

Fairfax India Holdings Corporation operates as an investment holding company in India. It invests in public and private equity securities and debt instruments in India and Indian businesses, or other businesses with customers, suppliers, or business primarily conducted and dependent in India. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Fairfax India Holdings Corporation is a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.

About Noah

Noah Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a wealth and asset management service provider with the focus on investment and asset allocation services for high net worth individuals and enterprises in Mainland of China, Hong Kong, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Wealth Management, Asset Management, and Other Services. The company offers investment products, including domestic and overseas mutual fund products, private secondary products, and other products; customized value-added financial services, such as investor education and trust services, as well as insurance brokerage services; and insurance products. It also provides onshore and offshore private equity, real estate, public securities, multi-strategy, and other investment products, as well as lending services. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.