HLI vs EVR Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Houlihan Lokey and Evercore are both independent investment banks providing advisory services, but Houlihan Lokey has built a particularly strong global restructuring advisory franchise, while Evercore is more heavily weighted toward M&A and equity capital markets advisory.
HLI offers exposure to a diversified advisory model with a leading counter-cyclical restructuring franchise, while EVR offers more concentrated exposure to M&A advisory deal cycles. The decision depends on whether you prefer cycle-smoothing restructuring exposure or more direct leverage to M&A deal activity.
EVR holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. EVR leads on both 1-year return (-20.74%) and forward P/E quality (12.80x vs 15.32x for HLI), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, EVR is growing revenue faster (18.80%), while HLI maintains the higher operating margin (18.39%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for EVR (+25.94%) than for HLI (+14.93%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to a leading global restructuring advisory franchise
- Value diversification across corporate finance, restructuring, and valuation advisory
- Believe restructuring advisory can provide resilience during weaker M&A deal environments
- Prefer a more cycle-diversified advisory model over a pure M&A-focused firm
- Want more concentrated exposure to large, complex M&A advisory engagements
- Value an independent advisory model without conflicts from lending or trading businesses
- Believe senior managing director headcount growth will continue supporting advisory origination
- Are comfortable with revenue that fluctuates significantly with global M&A deal cycles
| Metric | HLI | EVR |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 44.6 | 47.4 |
| AI ranki | #735 | #568 |
| Latest closei | $128.51 | $256.62 |
| 1M returni | -3.90% | -5.24% |
| 3M returni | -10.32% | -26.62% |
| 6M returni | -19.06% | -28.22% |
| 1Y returni | -33.34% | -20.74% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | HLI | EVR |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $6.82K (-31.8%) started 2025-10-16 | $8.12K (-18.8%) started 2025-10-16 |
| 5Y ago | $12.4K (+24.0%) started 2021-10-18 | $16.41K (+64.1%) started 2021-10-18 |
| 10Y ago | $52.32K (+423.2%) started 2016-10-17 | $49.59K (+395.9%) started 2016-10-17 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | HLI | EVR |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $9.33B | $11.11B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 22.45 | 16.28 |
| Forward P/Ei | 15.32 | 12.80 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 3.62 | 2.37 |
| Analyst targeti | $153.50 | $363.90 |
| Target upsidei | +14.93% | +25.94% |
| Metric | HLI | EVR |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | -15.50% | 18.80% |
| Earnings growthi | -19.00% | -1.70% |
| EPS growthi | -19.00% | -1.70% |
| FCF margini | N/A | N/A |
| Operating margini | 18.39% | 16.96% |
| Profit margini | 16.08% | 15.82% |
| ROIC proxyi | 17.79% | 39.50% |
| Return on equityi | 17.79% | 39.50% |
| Dividend yieldi | 2.11% | 1.24% |
| Payout ratioi | 41.95% | 19.20% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 0.96 | 1.50 |
| Debt/equityi | 20.85 | 50.18 |
| Current ratioi | 1.66 | 1.83 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.66 | 1.60 |
Over the past year, HLI and EVR have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.59), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | HLI | EVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -31.81% | -18.78% |
| CAGRi | -31.86% | -18.81% | |
| Volatilityi | 30.55% | 37.27% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -1.25 | -0.49 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -1.57 | -0.63 | |
| Max drawdowni | 38.99% | 33.58% | |
| Current drawdowni | 36.46% | 33.02% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 23.68% | 13.56% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 25.97% | 16.72% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.14% | 10.51% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 12.11% | 11.75% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +24.01% | +64.14% |
| CAGRi | +4.40% | +10.43% | |
| Volatilityi | 28.73% | 36.22% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.14 | 0.33 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.20 | 0.47 | |
| Max drawdowni | 41.02% | 50.80% | |
| Current drawdowni | 38.57% | 33.02% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 15.78% | 17.92% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 19.78% | 22.31% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.14% | 15.48% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.72% | 18.44% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +423.25% | +395.88% |
| CAGRi | +18.01% | +17.37% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.18% | 36.79% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.58 | 0.50 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.84 | 0.71 | |
| Max drawdowni | 41.02% | 68.90% | |
| Current drawdowni | 38.57% | 33.02% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 11.65% | 17.98% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 15.70% | 23.46% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.14% | 15.48% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.72% | 30.86% |
| Category | HLI | EVR |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Houlihan Lokey, Inc. | Evercore Inc. |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Industry | Capital Markets | Capital Markets |
| Core business | An independent investment bank providing corporate finance, restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory services, with a particularly strong global franchise in restructuring advisory. | An independent investment bank providing advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, and equity capital markets advice, alongside a smaller investment management business. |
| Investor focus | Restructuring advisory revenue during periods of credit market stress, corporate finance and M&A advisory revenue during healthier deal environments, and managing director productivity trends. | M&A advisory fee revenue tied to global deal activity, senior managing director headcount growth and productivity, and equity underwriting advisory activity levels. |
- Leading global restructuring advisory franchise provides a counter-cyclical revenue source that can perform well when M&A activity slows
- Diversification across corporate finance, restructuring, and valuation advisory smooths revenue across different phases of the economic cycle
- Established reputation in complex, distressed situations supports origination of high-value restructuring mandates
- Strong brand recognition in large, complex M&A advisory engagements supports origination of high-value transactions
- Independent advisory model avoids conflicts of interest that can arise at banks combining advisory with lending and trading businesses
- Established senior banker relationships across industries support a durable pipeline of advisory mandates
- Corporate finance advisory revenue remains sensitive to overall M&A deal volume during periods of stronger economic activity
- Restructuring advisory revenue can decline during extended periods of benign credit conditions and low corporate distress
- Faces competition from both larger full-service investment banks and other independent advisory boutiques
- Advisory fee revenue is highly sensitive to global M&A deal volume, which fluctuates significantly across economic cycles
- Senior managing director compensation and retention are critical to sustaining origination capacity and client relationships
- Faces competition from both larger full-service investment banks and other independent advisory boutiques
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