Sifting through countless of stocks in the Capital Markets industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc.

KKR & Co. Inc. is a private equity and real estate investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. It specializes in acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, credit special situations, growth equity, mature, mezzanine, distressed, turnaround, lower middle market, and middle market investments. The firm considers investments in all industries with a focus on software, cybersecurity, fintech, data and information, security, semiconductors, consumer electronics, internet of things (iot), internet, information services, information technology infrastructure, financial technology, network and cyber security architecture, engineering and operations, content, technology and hardware, energy and infrastructure, real estate, services industry with a focus on business services, intelligence, industry-leading franchises and companies in natural resource, containers and packaging, agriculture, airports, ports, forestry, electric utilities, textiles, apparel and luxury goods, household durables, digital media, insurance, brokerage houses, non-durable goods distribution, supermarket retailing, grocery stores, food, beverage, and tobacco, hospitals, entertainment venues and production companies, publishing, printing services, capital goods, financial services, specialized finance, pipelines, and renewable energy. In energy and infrastructure, it focuses on the upstream oil and gas and equipment, minerals and royalties and services verticals. In real estate, the firm seeks to invest in private and public real estate securities including property-level equity, debt and special situations transactions and businesses with significant real estate holdings, and oil and natural gas properties. The firm also invests in asset services sector that encompasses a broad array of B2B, B2C and B2G services verticals including asset-based, transport, logistics, leisure/hospitality, resource and utility support, infra-like, mission-critical, and environmental services. Within Americas, the firm prefers to invest in consumer products; chemicals, metals and mining; energy and natural resources; financial services; healthcare; biopharmaceutical; medical device; health care services; life science tools/diagnostics; health care information technology sub-sectors; industrials; media and communications; retail; and technology. Within Europe, the firm invests in consumer and retail; energy; financial services; health care; industrials and chemicals; media and digital; and telecom and technologies. Within Asia, it invests in consumer products; energy and resources; financial services; healthcare; industrials; logistics; media and telecom; retail; real estate; and technology. It also seeks to make impact investments focused on identifying and investing behind businesses with positive social or environmental impact. The firm seeks to invest in mid to high-end residential developments but can invest in other projects throughout Mainland China through outright ownership, joint ventures, and merger. It invests globally with a focus on Australia, emerging and developed Asia, Middle East and Africa, Nordic, Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific, Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, France, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Caribbean, Mexico, South America, North America, Israel, Brazil, Latin America, Korea with a focus on South Korea, and United States of America. In the United States and Europe, the firm focuses on buyouts of large, publicly traded companies. For middle market private equity it seeks to invest in companies with enterprise values between $200 million and $1000 million and EBITDA between $50 million to $250 million. The firm prefers to invest in a range of debt and public equity investing and may co-invest. It seeks a board seat in its portfolio companies and a controlling ownership of a company or a strategic minority position. It prefers to invest in initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, PIPE transactions, co-investments or private capital raises. The firm may acquire majority and minority equity interests, particularly when making private equity investments in Asia or sponsoring investments as part of a large investor consortium. The firm typically holds its investment for a period of five to seven years and more and exits through initial public offerings, secondary offerings, and sales to strategic buyers. KKR & Co. Inc. was founded in May 1, 1976 and is based in New York, New York with additional offices across North America, Europe, Australia, Middle East and Asia Pacific.

The Carlyle Group Inc. is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led/ Leveraged buyouts, privatizations, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, structured credit, global distressed and corporate opportunities, small and middle market, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, senior debt, mezzanine and leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings, seed/startup, early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, PIPES, recapitalization. The firm invests across four segments which include Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies, and Solutions. The firm typically invests in industrial, agribusiness, ecological sector, fintech, airports, parking, Plastics, Rubber, diversified natural resources, minerals, farming, aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer, retail, industrial, infrastructure, energy, power, healthcare, software, software enabled services, semiconductors, communications infrastructure, financial technology, utilities, gaming, systems and related supply chain, electronic systems, systems, oil and gas, processing facilities, power generation assets, technology, systems, real estate, financial services, transportation, business services, telecommunications, media, and logistics sectors. Within the industrial sector, the firm invests in manufacturing, building products, packaging, chemicals, metals and mining, forestry and paper products, and industrial consumables and services. In consumer and retail sectors, it invests in food and beverage, retail, restaurants, consumer products, domestic consumption, consumer services, personal care products, direct marketing, and education. Within aerospace, defense, business services, and government services sectors, it seeks to invest in defense electronics, manufacturing and services, government contracting and services, information technology, distribution companies, supply chains, aftermarket services, cybersecurity and digital resilience, digital transformation. Within healthcare, biotech and medtech innovation, life sciences, healthcare IT, pharmacy, pharma commercialization. In telecommunication and media sectors, it invests in cable TV, directories, publishing, entertainment and content delivery services, wireless infrastructure/services, fixed line networks, satellite services, broadband and Internet, and infrastructure. Within real estate, the firm invests in office, hotel, industrial, retail, for sale residential, student housing, hospitality, multifamily residential, homebuilding and building products, and senior living sectors. The firm seeks to make investments in growing business including those with overleveraged balance sheets. The firm seeks to hold its investments for four to six years. In the healthcare sector, it invests in healthcare services, outsourcing services, companies running clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies, managed care, pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical related services, healthcare IT, medical, products, and devices. It seeks to invest in companies based in Sub-Saharan focusing on Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Botswana, Nigeria, Uganda, West Africa, North Africa and South Africa focusing on Tanzania and Zambia; Asia focusing on Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, South East Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan; Australia; New Zealand; Europe focusing on France, Italy, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Benelux , Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, and Russia; Middle East focusing on Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and UAE; North America focusing on United States which further invest in Southeastern United States, Texas, Boston, San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest; Asia Pacific; Soviet Union, Central-Eastern Europe, and Israel; Nordic region; and South America focusing on Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. The firm seeks to invest in food, financial, and healthcare industries in Western China. In the real estate sector, the firm seeks to invest in various locations across Europe focusing on France and Central Europe, United States, Asia focusing on China, and Latin America. It typically invests between $2.24 million and $50 million for venture investments and between $50 million and $2 billion for buyouts in companies with enterprise value of between $31.57 million and $1000 million and sales value of $50 million and $300 million. It seeks to invest in companies with market capitalization greater than $50 million and EBITDA between $5 million to $25 million. It prefers to take a majority or a minority stake. While investing in Japan, it does not invest in companies with more than 1,000 employees and prefers companies’ worth between $100 million and $150 million. The firm originates, structures, and acts as lead equity investor in the transactions. The Carlyle Group Inc. was founded in 1987 and is based in Washington, District of Columbia with additional offices across North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Latest Capital Markets and KKR & Co. Inc., The Carlyle Group Inc. Stock News

As of June 12, 2026, KKR & Co. Inc. had a $86.4 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.4 million. KKR & Co. Inc.’s stock is down 24.5% in 2026, up 3% in the previous five trading days and down 23.62% in the past year.

Currently, KKR & Co. Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 33.5. KKR & Co. Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $25.4 billion with a 11.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -6.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.037 per share for the current fiscal year. KKR & Co. Inc. currently has a 0.8% dividend yield.

As of June 12, 2026, The Carlyle Group Inc. had a $16.5 billion market cap, putting it in the 84th percentile of all stocks. The Carlyle Group Inc.’s stock is down 22.6% in 2026, up 5.2% in the previous five trading days and down 3.54% in the past year.

Currently, The Carlyle Group Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 30.8. The Carlyle Group Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $3.2 billion with a 16.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -94.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.087 per share for the current fiscal year. The Carlyle Group Inc. currently has a 3.1% dividend yield.

How We Compare KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
KKR & Co. Inc.	KKR	F
The Carlyle Group Inc.	CG	D

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

KKR & Co. Inc. has a Quality Score of 13, which is Very Weak. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a Quality Score of 29, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
KKR & Co. Inc.	KKR	D
The Carlyle Group Inc.	CG	D

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

KKR & Co. Inc. has a Momentum Score of 34, which is Weak. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a Momentum Score of 38, which is Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
KKR & Co. Inc.	KKR	D
The Carlyle Group Inc.	CG	D

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

KKR & Co. Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 36, which is Negative. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 39, which is Negative.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade that could be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc. Grades

In addition to Quality, Estimate Revisions and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Growth.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, KKR & Co. Inc. or The Carlyle Group Inc. Stock?

Overall, KKR & Co. Inc. stock has a Momentum Score of 34, Estimate Revisions Score of 36 and Quality Score of 13.

The Carlyle Group Inc. stock has a Momentum Score of 38, Estimate Revisions Score of 39 and Quality Score of 29.

Comparing KKR & Co. Inc. and The Carlyle Group Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.