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 Houlihan Lokey, Inc. or PJT Partners 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 Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc.

Houlihan Lokey, Inc., an investment banking company, provides merger and acquisition (M&A), capital market, financial restructurings and liability management, and financial and valuation advisory services worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Corporate Finance (CF), Financial Restructuring (FR), and Financial and Valuation Advisory (FVA). The CF segment offers general financial advisory services; and advises public and private institutions, including financial sponsors on buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions, debt and equity financings in both the private and public markets, and other corporate finance transactions. The FR segment advises debtors, creditors, and other parties-in-interest related to recapitalization/deleveraging transactions. This segment also provides a range of advisory services, such as structuring, negotiation, and confirmation of plans of reorganization; structuring and analysis of exchange offers; liability management transactions; corporate viability assessment; dispute resolution and expert testimony; and procuring debtor-in-possession financing. The FVA segment provides valuation services to companies; debt and equity interests comprising illiquid investments; and other assets and liabilities. This segment also offers fairness opinions in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other transactions; solvency opinions in connection with corporate spin-offs and dividend recapitalizations; other types of financial opinions; and diligence, tax, transaction accounting, and other financial advisory services, as well as dispute resolution services. It serves corporations, financial sponsors, and government agencies. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

PJT Partners Inc., an investment bank, provides various strategic advisory, shareholder advisory, capital markets advisory, and restructuring and special situations services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures. The company also provides advisory services for private and public company boards and management teams on strategies for building productive investor relationships with a focus on shareholder engagement; complex investor matters; and other critical strategic, governance, and shareholder matters. In addition, it offers advisory services related to debt and equity markets, including debt financings, acquisition financings, structured product offerings, public equity raises initial public offerings, private capital raises, general partner advisory, and other capital structure related matters. Further, the company provides geopolitical and policy advisory practice that assists corporate boards and management teams with navigating changing geopolitical relationships. Additionally, it offers advisory services in the areas of liability management, and restructurings and special situations comprising bespoke financing, tort liability resolutions, distressed M&A, and chapter 11 matters, as well as to corporate clients, financial sponsors, and creditors. The company also provides private fund advisory and fundraising services for a range of investment strategies; and advisory services to general and limited partners on liquidity and other structured solutions. The company was formerly known as Blackstone Advisory Inc. and changed its name to PJT Partners Inc. in March 2015. PJT Partners Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Latest Capital Markets and Houlihan Lokey, Inc., PJT Partners Inc. Stock News

As of September 15, 2026, Houlihan Lokey, Inc. had a $9.3 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.3 million. Houlihan Lokey, Inc.’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and down 34.83% in the past year.

Currently, Houlihan Lokey, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 22.5. Houlihan Lokey, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.5 billion with a 16.1% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -15.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $7.078 per share for the current fiscal year. Houlihan Lokey, Inc. currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

Currently, PJT Partners Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 25.2. PJT Partners Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.9 billion with a 10.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 19.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $7.994 per share for the current fiscal year. PJT Partners Inc. currently has a 0.6% dividend yield.

How We Compare Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners 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 Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Houlihan Lokey, Inc.	HLI	D
PJT Partners Inc.	PJT	D

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.

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a Value Score of 29, which is Expensive. PJT Partners Inc. has a Value Score of 34, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Houlihan Lokey, Inc. or PJT Partners 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 Houlihan Lokey, Inc. or PJT Partners Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Houlihan Lokey, Inc.	HLI	A
PJT Partners Inc.	PJT	A

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.

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a Growth Score of 83, which is Very Strong. PJT Partners Inc. has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc. have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Houlihan Lokey, Inc.	HLI	D
PJT Partners Inc.	PJT	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%.

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 22, which is Weak. PJT Partners Inc. has a Momentum Score of 34, which is Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Houlihan Lokey, Inc. or PJT Partners 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 Houlihan Lokey, Inc. or PJT Partners Inc. is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc. 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 Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Houlihan Lokey, Inc. or PJT Partners Inc. Stock?

Overall, Houlihan Lokey, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 29, Growth Score of 83 and Momentum Score of 22.

PJT Partners Inc. stock has a Value Score of 34, Growth Score of 95 and Momentum Score of 34.

Comparing Houlihan Lokey, Inc. and PJT Partners 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.