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 UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group or 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 UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc.

UBS Group AG operates as a wealth manager and bank worldwide. It operates through five segments: Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management, Investment Bank, and Non-Core and Legacy. The Global Wealth Management segment offers financial services, advice, and solutions; investment management, estate planning, and corporate advice services; and wealth management and banking products and services to private wealth and institutional customers. Its Personal & Corporate Banking segment provides banking, retirement, financing, investments, and strategic transactions to private, corporate, and institutional customers through its branch network and digital channels in Switzerland. The Asset Management segment offers diversified asset management services. Its Investment Bank segment provides equities, foreign exchange, precious metals, research, advisory, and capital markets services to institutional, corporate, financial sponsor, and Global Wealth Management customers, as well as focused rates and credit platform. The company also offers lending products, such as securities-based lending, mortgages, structured products, and tailored solutions; collateralized lending residential and commercial real estate, primarily against securities, residential and commercial real estate, other real assets (such as ships and aircraft), private market and hedge fund interest; and unsecured lending. The company was formerly known as UBS AG and changed its name to UBS Group AG in December 2014. UBS Group AG was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Asset Management, and Benefits and Protection segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides retirement, and related financial products and services. This segment offers products and services for defined contribution plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, defined benefit plans, nonqualified executive benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, equity compensation, and pension risk transfer services; individual retirement accounts; investment only products; and mutual funds, individual variable annuities, registered index-linked annuities, and bank products, as well as trust and custody services. The Principal Asset Management segment provides equity, fixed income, real estate, and other alternative investments, as well as fund offerings. This segment also offers pension accumulation products and services, mutual funds, asset management, income annuities, and life insurance accumulation products, as well as voluntary savings plans. The Benefits and Protection segment provides specialty benefits, such as specialty benefits group dental and vision insurance, group life and other insurance, and group and individual disability insurance, as well as administers group dental, disability, and vision benefits; and individual life insurance products comprising universal, variable universal, indexed universal, and term life insurance products. This segment serves insurance solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and their owners, as well as employees. The company was founded in 1879 and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Latest Capital Markets and UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group, Inc. Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, UBS Group AG had a $168.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.2 million. UBS Group AG’s stock is up 19.4% in 2026, up 1.7% in the previous five trading days and up 38.43% in the past year.

Currently, UBS Group AG’s price-earnings ratio is 18.7. UBS Group AG’s trailing 12-month revenue is $53.0 billion with a 17.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 14.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.366 per share for the current fiscal year. UBS Group AG currently has a 2.0% dividend yield.

As of September 2, 2026, Principal Financial Group, Inc. had a $23.8 billion market cap, putting it in the 88th percentile of all stocks. Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s stock is up 34.3% in 2026, up 5.6% in the previous five trading days and up 39.24% in the past year.

Currently, Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 15.8. Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $15.7 billion with a 9.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 6.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $9.522 per share for the current fiscal year. Principal Financial Group, Inc. currently has a 3.0% dividend yield.

How We Compare UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and 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 UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
UBS Group AG	UBS	C
Principal Financial Group, Inc.	PFG	B

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.

UBS Group AG has a Value Score of 53, which is Average. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a Value Score of 80, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: Principal Financial Group, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Principal Financial Group, Inc. is considered to have better value than UBS Group AG. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Principal Financial Group, 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.

UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
UBS Group AG	UBS	A
Principal Financial Group, Inc.	PFG	C

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.

UBS Group AG has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a Growth Score of 43, which is Average.

The Growth Grade Winner: UBS Group AG

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, UBS Group AG has a more attractive growth grade than Principal Financial Group, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, UBS Group AG 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.

UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
UBS Group AG	UBS	D
Principal Financial Group, Inc.	PFG	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.

UBS Group AG has a Earnings Estimate Score of 40, which is Negative. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 52, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group or 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 UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc. Grades

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

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.

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 UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group or Inc. Stock?

Overall, UBS Group AG stock has a Value Score of 53, Growth Score of 95 and Estimate Revisions Score of 40.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 80, Growth Score of 43 and Estimate Revisions Score of 52.

Comparing UBS Group AG, Principal Financial Group and 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.