LPLA vs RJF: LPL Financial vs Raymond James Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
LPL Financial is a pure independent advisor platform, while Raymond James is a hybrid wealth management company with both employee and independent advisors, an investment banking business, and a banking subsidiary. LPL is the cleaner independent advisor bet; Raymond James is more diversified with investment banking and banking income.
LPLA vs RJF is the pure independent advisor platform versus hybrid wealth manager with investment banking — LPL wins if wirehouse-to-independent transitions sustain advisor recruitment; Raymond James wins if investment banking revenue recovers alongside advisor asset growth and bank NII.
LPLA holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. RJF has delivered stronger 1-year price return (-2.12% vs -3.74%), though LPLA has the better forward P/E setup (12.10x vs 12.65x for RJF). On fundamentals, LPLA is growing revenue faster (36.40%), while RJF maintains the higher operating margin (19.30%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for LPLA (+19.08%) than for RJF (+3.66%).
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 the purest play on the secular wirehouse-to-independent advisor transition
- value LPL's technology platform scale as the dominant independent broker-dealer
- prefer advisory fee revenue compounding with advisor AUA over investment banking cyclicality
- are comfortable with sweep cash rate sensitivity in exchange for advisor platform growth
- prefer a hybrid wealth manager with both employee and independent advisors providing flexibility
- value Raymond James Bank as a NII-generating subsidiary that diversifies revenue from pure brokerage
- want investment banking upside alongside wealth management in a single financial services company
- prefer a more diversified financial services model over LPL's pure independent advisor platform focus
| Metric | LPLA | RJF |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 64.0 | 49.4 |
| AI ranki | #80 | #327 |
| Latest closei | $320.96 | $156.78 |
| 1M returni | -3.63% | -4.73% |
| 3M returni | -1.21% | -6.88% |
| 6M returni | +1.12% | +3.31% |
| 1Y returni | -3.74% | -2.12% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | LPLA | RJF |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.5K (-5.0%) started 2025-10-17 | $9.71K (-2.9%) started 2025-10-17 |
| 5Y ago | $18.61K (+86.1%) started 2021-10-18 | $17.36K (+73.6%) started 2021-10-18 |
| 10Y ago | $106.1K (+961.0%) started 2016-10-17 | $52.56K (+425.6%) started 2016-10-17 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | LPLA | RJF |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $28.39B | $34.46B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 28.89 | 15.65 |
| Forward P/Ei | 12.10 | 12.65 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.73 | 1.62 |
| Analyst targeti | $429.33 | $185.92 |
| Target upsidei | +19.08% | +3.66% |
| Metric | LPLA | RJF |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 36.40% | 15.10% |
| Earnings growthi | 39.40% | 42.00% |
| EPS growthi | +39.40% | +42.00% |
| FCF margini | N/A | N/A |
| Operating margini | 11.10% | 19.30% |
| Profit margini | 5.24% | 15.13% |
| ROIC proxyi | 18.59% | 18.42% |
| Return on equityi | 18.59% | 18.42% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.34% | 1.20% |
| Payout ratioi | 9.55% | 18.48% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.48 | 0.92 |
| Debt/equityi | 135.37 | 47.59 |
| Current ratioi | 2.35 | 2.11 |
| Quick ratioi | 2.29 | 2.10 |
Over the past year, LPLA and RJF have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.71), 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 | LPLA | RJF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -5.02% | -2.92% |
| CAGRi | -5.04% | -2.92% | |
| Volatilityi | 36.49% | 24.73% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.08 | -0.18 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.11 | -0.23 | |
| Max drawdowni | 32.39% | 18.87% | |
| Current drawdowni | 18.38% | 13.47% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 14.25% | 7.36% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.95% | 9.23% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.31% | 8.75% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 18.07% | 9.01% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +86.10% | +64.56% |
| CAGRi | +13.24% | +10.48% | |
| Volatilityi | 36.18% | 27.87% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.40 | 0.34 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.55 | 0.47 | |
| Max drawdowni | 33.37% | 32.11% | |
| Current drawdowni | 19.56% | 13.47% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 11.98% | 10.04% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 14.82% | 12.28% | |
| Max daily dropi | 12.46% | 8.75% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 22.77% | 18.18% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +961.02% | +359.72% |
| CAGRi | +26.65% | +16.48% | |
| Volatilityi | 37.78% | 30.84% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.70 | 0.50 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.00 | 0.72 | |
| Max drawdowni | 60.53% | 45.59% | |
| Current drawdowni | 19.56% | 13.47% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 10.30% | 10.55% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 13.97% | 13.74% | |
| Max daily dropi | 21.73% | 11.59% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 32.69% | 25.33% |
| Category | LPLA | RJF |
|---|---|---|
| Company | LPL Financial Holdings Inc. | Raymond James Financial, Inc. |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Industry | Capital Markets | Asset Management |
| Core business | Largest independent broker-dealer providing technology and compliance services to 23,000+ independent advisors. LPL does not employ advisors directly — advisors run independent practices on LPL's platform. | Full-service wealth management company with an employee advisor channel (Raymond James & Associates), independent advisor channel (Raymond James Financial Services), and investment banking (Capital Markets). Raymond James employs about half its advisors directly. |
| Investor focus | Net new advisor assets, recruitment pipeline, ARPU per advisor, and capital return. | Advisor-driven client asset growth, NII from banking subsidiary, capital markets revenue, and advisor retention through economic cycles. |
- Dominant independent advisor platform with the largest independent advisor count in the US
- Structural tailwind from wirehouse-to-independent transition as advisors value practice ownership
- Advisory fee revenue compounds as advisors grow their AUA within LPL's platform
- Hybrid model of employee and independent advisors provides flexibility to attract different advisor types
- Raymond James Bank subsidiary generates NII on client deposits and loans — a significant earnings diversifier vs pure broker-dealers
- Investment banking and capital markets provide cyclical upside in strong M&A and equity issuance environments
- LPL does not control advisor quality — advisor misconduct can create reputational and regulatory risk
- Advisor portability means top LPL advisors can switch to competitor platforms (Fidelity, Ameritas)
- NII from client cash sweep is rate-sensitive — lower rates reduce LPL's spread on advisor client cash
- Investment banking revenue is cyclical and compresses earnings in slow deal market environments
- Raymond James Bank NII is sensitive to interest rates and credit quality in its loan portfolio
- Advisor retention requires competitive payout rates that limit profitability improvement per advisor
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