Comparing KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) and MSC Income Fund (NYSE:MSIF)

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) and MSC Income Fund (NYSE:MSIF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for KKR & Co. Inc. and MSC Income Fund, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KKR & Co. Inc.	0	4	17	0	2.81
MSC Income Fund	0	3	2	1	2.67

KKR & Co. Inc. currently has a consensus price target of $124.21, indicating a potential upside of 33.50%. MSC Income Fund has a consensus price target of $13.88, indicating a potential upside of 18.34%. Given KKR & Co. Inc.’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe KKR & Co. Inc. is more favorable than MSC Income Fund.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares KKR & Co. Inc. and MSC Income Fund”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KKR & Co. Inc.	$19.46 billion	4.29	$2.37 billion	$3.14	29.63
MSC Income Fund	$110.26 million	5.01	$100.90 million	$2.14	5.48

KKR & Co. Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than MSC Income Fund. MSC Income Fund is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than KKR & Co. Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares KKR & Co. Inc. and MSC Income Fund’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KKR & Co. Inc.	14.41%	5.88%	1.07%
MSC Income Fund	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

76.3% of KKR & Co. Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. 23.2% of KKR & Co. Inc. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of MSC Income Fund shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

KKR & Co. Inc. beats MSC Income Fund on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About KKR & Co. Inc.

KKR & Co., Inc. operates as an investment firm. It offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. The firm’s business segments include Asset Management and Insurance Business. The Asset Management segment engages in providing private equity, real assets, credit and liquid strategies, capital markets, and principal activities. The Insurance Business segment offers retirement, life insurance and reinsurance solutions to clients across individual and institutional markets. The company was founded by Henry Kravis, George R. Roberts, and Jerome Kholberg on May 1, 1976 and is headquartered in New York, NY.