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 Templeton Inc. or Ares Management Corporation 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 Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Franklin Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation

Franklin Templeton 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.

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager. Its Direct Lending Group segment provides financing solutions to small-to-medium sized companies. The company’s Private Equity Group segment specializes in early venture, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, recapitalization, growth capital, middle market, mezzanine, distressed and growth buyouts. The firm seeks to invest in healthcare, services, energy, industrials and consumer. The firm seeks to takes majority, minority and shared-control investments primarily in under-capitalized companies in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and Australia. Its Real Estate Group segment invests in new developments and the repositioning of assets, with a focus on control or majority-control investments; and originates and invests in a range of self-originated financing opportunities for middle-market owners and operators of commercial real estate. The firm prefers to invest between $1 million and $500 million in companies having EBITDA between $10 million and $250 million and debt investment value between $10 million and $100 million. Ares Management Corporation was founded in 1997 and is based in Los Angeles, California with additional offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

Latest Capital Markets and Franklin Templeton Inc., Ares Management Corporation Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Franklin Templeton Inc. had a $16.8 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.2 million. Franklin Templeton Inc.’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 29.86% in the past year.

Currently, Franklin Templeton Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 22.4. Franklin Templeton Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $9.3 billion with a 8.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 14.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.890 per share for the current fiscal year. Franklin Templeton Inc. currently has a 4.0% dividend yield.

Currently, Ares Management Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 62.2. Ares Management Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $6.0 billion with a 10.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.8%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.851 per share for the current fiscal year. Ares Management Corporation currently has a 3.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Franklin Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation 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 Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Franklin Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Franklin Templeton Inc.	BEN	B
Ares Management Corporation	ARES	F

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 Templeton Inc. has a Value Score of 67, which is Value. Ares Management Corporation has a Value Score of 9, which is Ultra Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: Franklin Templeton Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Franklin Templeton Inc. is considered to have better value than Ares Management Corporation. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Franklin Templeton Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Franklin Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Franklin Templeton Inc.	BEN	B
Ares Management Corporation	ARES	D

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Franklin Templeton Inc. has a Growth Score of 77, which is Strong. Ares Management Corporation has a Growth Score of 26, which is Weak.

The Growth Grade Winner: Franklin Templeton Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Franklin Templeton Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Ares Management Corporation. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Franklin Templeton Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Franklin Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Franklin Templeton Inc.	BEN	B
Ares Management Corporation	ARES	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%.

Franklin Templeton Inc. has a Momentum Score of 62, which is Strong. Ares Management Corporation has a Momentum Score of 30, which is Weak.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Franklin Templeton Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Franklin Templeton Inc. is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Ares Management Corporation. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Franklin Templeton Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Franklin Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation Grades

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

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

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite 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 F-Score.

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 Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Franklin Templeton Inc. or Ares Management Corporation Stock?

Overall, Franklin Templeton Inc. stock has a Value Score of 67, Growth Score of 77 and Momentum Score of 62.

Ares Management Corporation stock has a Value Score of 9, Growth Score of 26 and Momentum Score of 30.

Comparing Franklin Templeton Inc. and Ares Management Corporation’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.