LPL Financial vs Virtu Financial
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- LPL Financial is the larger business, with $17.0B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.6B for Virtu Financial, about 4.7 times as much.
- LPL Financial grew revenue faster (37.2%, against 26.3%).
- Virtu Financial turned more of its sales into free cash flow (13.6% FCF margin, against −5.8%).
- Virtu Financial earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (37.9%, against 12.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of LPL Financial’s earnings: a P/E of 25.1x against 9.3x for Virtu Financial.
| Latest fiscal year | LPLA · FY25 | VIRT · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $25.2B | $4.9B |
| Revenue | $17.0B | $3.6B |
| Free cash flow | −$982M | $496M |
| Net income | $863M | $468M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 37.2% | 26.3% |
| 5-year growth | 23.7% | 2.3% |
| Share count change | 4.8% | −2.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | — | — |
| Net margin | 5.1% | 12.9% |
| FCF margin | −5.8% | 13.6% |
| Return on capital | 12.3% | 37.9% |
| Return on equity | 20.9% | 33.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $6.1B | $1.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.2x | 0.8x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $194M | $1.6M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 25.1x | 9.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | — | — |
Revenue
FY16
LPLA $4.0B
VIRT $702M
FY17
LPLA $4.3B
VIRT $1.0B
FY18
LPLA $5.2B
VIRT $1.9B
FY19
LPLA $5.6B
VIRT $1.5B
FY20
LPLA $5.9B
VIRT $3.2B
FY21
LPLA $7.7B
VIRT $2.8B
FY22
LPLA $8.6B
VIRT $2.4B
FY23
LPLA $10.1B
VIRT $2.3B
FY24
LPLA $12.4B
VIRT $2.9B
FY25
LPLA $17.0B
VIRT $3.6B
LPLA
VIRT
Operating margin
FY16
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY17
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY18
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY19
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY20
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY21
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY22
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY23
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY24
LPLA —
VIRT —
FY25
LPLA —
VIRT —
LPLA
VIRT
Free cash flow
FY16
LPLA $261M
VIRT $228M
FY17
LPLA $341M
VIRT $272M
FY18
LPLA $449M
VIRT $688M
FY19
LPLA $467M
VIRT $159M
FY20
LPLA $634M
VIRT $1.0B
FY21
LPLA $237M
VIRT $1.1B
FY22
LPLA $1.6B
VIRT $680M
FY23
LPLA $109M
VIRT $454M
FY24
LPLA −$285M
VIRT $587M
FY25
LPLA −$982M
VIRT $496M
LPLA
VIRT
Return on capital
FY16
LPLA 11.4%
VIRT 19.5%
FY17
LPLA 12.5%
VIRT 6.0%
FY18
LPLA 19.8%
VIRT 36.8%
FY19
LPLA 22.8%
VIRT 0.2%
FY20
LPLA 18.9%
VIRT 46.0%
FY21
LPLA 15.5%
VIRT 34.7%
FY22
LPLA 23.2%
VIRT 22.1%
FY23
LPLA 25.5%
VIRT 14.3%
FY24
LPLA 19.7%
VIRT 25.9%
FY25
LPLA 12.3%
VIRT 37.9%
LPLA
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.