Houlihan Lokey vs Virtu Financial
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The short version
- Virtu Financial is the larger business, with $3.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $2.6B for Houlihan Lokey.
- Virtu Financial grew revenue faster (26.3%, against 9.6%).
- Houlihan Lokey turned more of its sales into free cash flow (26.1% FCF margin, against 13.6%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Houlihan Lokey’s earnings: a P/E of 22.0x against 9.3x for Virtu Financial.
| Latest fiscal year | HLI · FY26 | VIRT · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $8.9B | $4.9B |
| Revenue | $2.6B | $3.6B |
| Free cash flow | $682M | $496M |
| Net income | $426M | $468M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 9.6% | 26.3% |
| 5-year growth | 11.4% | 2.3% |
| Share count change | −0.3% | −2.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 20.1% | — |
| Net margin | 16.3% | 12.9% |
| FCF margin | 26.1% | 13.6% |
| Return on capital | — | 37.9% |
| Return on equity | 18.9% | 33.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | — | $1.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — | 0.8x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $349M | $1.6M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.0x | 9.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | — | — |
Revenue
FY17
HLI $872M
VIRT $1.0B
FY18
HLI $963M
VIRT $1.9B
FY19
HLI $1.1B
VIRT $1.5B
FY20
HLI $1.2B
VIRT $3.2B
FY21
HLI $1.5B
VIRT $2.8B
FY22
HLI $2.3B
VIRT $2.4B
FY23
HLI $1.8B
VIRT $2.3B
FY24
HLI $1.9B
VIRT $2.9B
FY25
HLI $2.4B
VIRT $3.6B
FY26
HLI $2.6B
VIRT —
HLI
VIRT
Operating margin
FY17
HLI 20.9%
VIRT —
FY18
HLI 22.3%
VIRT —
FY19
HLI 20.2%
VIRT —
FY20
HLI 19.8%
VIRT —
FY21
HLI 26.8%
VIRT —
FY22
HLI 27.0%
VIRT —
FY23
HLI 18.9%
VIRT —
FY24
HLI 19.5%
VIRT —
FY25
HLI 21.0%
VIRT —
FY26
HLI 20.1%
VIRT —
HLI
VIRT
Free cash flow
FY17
HLI $238M
VIRT $272M
FY18
HLI $243M
VIRT $688M
FY19
HLI $218M
VIRT $159M
FY20
HLI $267M
VIRT $1.0B
FY21
HLI $566M
VIRT $1.1B
FY22
HLI $728M
VIRT $680M
FY23
HLI $85.5M
VIRT $454M
FY24
HLI $262M
VIRT $587M
FY25
HLI $809M
VIRT $496M
FY26
HLI $682M
VIRT —
HLI
VIRT
Return on capital
FY17
HLI 21.7%
VIRT 6.0%
FY18
HLI 30.4%
VIRT 36.8%
FY19
HLI 24.0%
VIRT 0.2%
FY20
HLI 28.0%
VIRT 46.0%
FY21
HLI 50.6%
VIRT 34.7%
FY22
HLI —
VIRT 22.1%
FY23
HLI —
VIRT 14.3%
FY24
HLI —
VIRT 25.9%
FY25
HLI —
VIRT 37.9%
FY26
HLI —
VIRT —
HLI
VIRT
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.