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 Franklin Resources, Inc. or StepStone 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 Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc.

Franklin Resources, Inc. is a publicly owned asset investment manager. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries. The firm invests in the public equity, fixed income, and alternative markets. Franklin Resources, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is based in San Mateo, California with an additional office in Calgary, Alberta; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Edinburgh, Midlothian; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Hyderabad, India; London, Greater London; Rancho Cordova, California; Shanghai, Shanghai Province; Singapore; Stamford, Connecticut; and Vienna.

StepStone Group Inc. is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in primary, direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in private debt, venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, buyout investments in mature and middle market companies. It prefers to invest in natural resources, technology, healthcare, services, materials, manufacturing, consumer durables, apparel, hotels, restaurants and leisure, media, retailing, power, utilities consumer staples, financials, telecommunication services, clean energy/renewables, transport, social, natural capital, infrastructure, corporate, real estate, credit and real asset. The firm invests globally with a focus on United States, North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, New Zealand, China, India, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia region. The firm invests between 5% and 40% in emerging markets. For fund of fund investment, it seeks to invest in private equity funds, venture capital funds, Special situation funds, Real estate funds, Infrastructure funds, mezzanine funds, and turnaround/distressed funds. It considers investments in both domestic and international funds. It also seeks to make co-investments and follow-on investments and considers partial interests in funds. The firm seeks to make minority and majority investments. StepStone Group Inc. was founded in 2007 and is based in New York, New York with additional offices across North America, South America, South Korea, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Latest Capital Markets and Franklin Resources, Inc., StepStone Group Inc. Stock News

As of May 20, 2026, Franklin Resources, Inc. had a $16.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.7 million. Franklin Resources, Inc.’s stock is up 28.5% in 2026, down 5.1% in the previous five trading days and up 40.48% in the past year.

Currently, Franklin Resources, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 23.8. Franklin Resources, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $9.0 billion with a 8.1% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.746 per share for the current fiscal year. Franklin Resources, Inc. currently has a 4.2% dividend yield.

As of May 20, 2026, StepStone Group Inc. had a $4.2 billion market cap, putting it in the 65th percentile of all stocks. StepStone Group Inc.’s stock is down 15.9% in 2026, down 2.1% in the previous five trading days and down 12.49% in the past year.

Currently, StepStone Group Inc. does not have a price-earnings ratio. StepStone Group Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.8 billion with a -30.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 73.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.091 per share for the current fiscal year. StepStone Group Inc. currently has a 2.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone 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 Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Franklin Resources, Inc.	BEN	C
StepStone Group Inc.	STEP	na

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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Franklin Resources, Inc. has a Value Score of 53, which is Average. StepStone Group Inc. does not have a meaningful Value Score.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Franklin Resources, Inc. or StepStone Group Inc. has a high enough value 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 portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Franklin Resources, Inc. or StepStone Group Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Franklin Resources, Inc.	BEN	C
StepStone Group Inc.	STEP	F

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.

Franklin Resources, Inc. has a Quality Score of 52, which is Average. StepStone Group Inc. has a Quality Score of 8, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Franklin Resources, Inc. or StepStone 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 Franklin Resources, Inc. or StepStone Group Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Franklin Resources, Inc.	BEN	A
StepStone Group Inc.	STEP	C

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.

Franklin Resources, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 85, which is Very Positive. StepStone Group Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 56, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Franklin Resources, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Franklin Resources, Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than StepStone Group Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Franklin Resources, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc. Grades

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

Momentum grades help 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.

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.

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 Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone Group Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Franklin Resources, Inc. or StepStone Group Inc. Stock?

Overall, Franklin Resources, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 53, Estimate Revisions Score of 85 and Quality Score of 52.

StepStone Group Inc. stock has a Value Score of , Estimate Revisions Score of 56 and Quality Score of 8.

Comparing Franklin Resources, Inc. and StepStone 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.