8 companies · median 17 of 36 checks · prices as of 2026-09-08
Brokers and exchanges stocks.
Sorted by how many checks each one passes. Sort by any column to see who is cheapest, who is growing, or who has the strongest balance sheet - and how that compares with what is normal for the industry.
Ranked by checks passed
8 of 201 covered companies→There is real spread here - Interactive Brokers (IBKR) leads on 22 of 36 checks, KKR (KKR) trails on 11, with a median of 17.
→MS, GS, SCHW are 63% of the $1.30T we cover here, so a sector average says more about them than about the rest.
 Interactive BrokersIBKRAn electronic broker for active traders and institutions, run at very low cost.ReportFact sheet | -1.8% | +51.9% | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 22/36 |
 Charles SchwabSCHWThe largest US retail broker and custodian, earning most of its money on client cash.ReportFact sheet | -2.2% | +17.6% | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 18/36 |
 Goldman SachsGSAn investment bank: advising on deals, trading in markets and managing money for institutions.ReportFact sheet | -0.2% | +43.2% | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 17/36 |
 BlackstoneBXThe world's largest alternative asset manager: private equity, real estate, credit and infrastructure.ReportFact sheet | -1.6% | -18.0% | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 17/36 |
 Morgan StanleyMSAn investment bank and, increasingly, a wealth manager after buying E*Trade and Eaton Vance.ReportFact sheet | -0.7% | +49.3% | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 16/36 |
 BlackRockBLKThe world's largest asset manager, home of the iShares ETFs.ReportFact sheet | -2.4% | +1.3% | 0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 16/36 |
 RobinhoodHOODA commission-free brokerage app for stocks, options and crypto, paid by order flow and interest.ReportFact sheet | -3.9% | +15.9% | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 14/36 |
 KKRKKRA private-equity, credit and infrastructure investor that earns fees and a share of gains.ReportFact sheet | -1.9% | -21.4% | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11/36 |
Every filing behind this table closes on 2026-06-30; prices are the close of 2026-09-08. Each name links to its full report; every score is a count of pass-or-fail checks read from that company's own filings.
Where the sector falls short
median score per axis→Value is where the brokers and exchanges we cover come up short most often, at a median of 1 of 6, while Growth runs at 4.
| Value | ●○○○○○ | 1 of 6 |
| Growth | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Quality | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Health | ●●○○○○ | 2 of 6 |
| Shareholder returns | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Trend analysis | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
What a normal margin looks like here
sector percentiles · 43 filers→Operating margin clusters among brokers and exchanges, from 7% to 27% across the middle of the field, with a midpoint of 21% measured over 43 filers.
| Metric | Bottom third | Midpoint | Top third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin n=43 | 7.4% | 21.0% | 26.8% |
| Net margin n=76 | 6.8% | 15.7% | 23.4% |
| Return on equity n=77 | 9.5% | 15.8% | 23.2% |
Who grows, and who keeps it
every company in the industry→Every one of them grows faster than this industry's middle and keeps more of each sale than it does. The industry's middle is 10% growth on a 23% margin.
A year of price
not a fact about the business→6 of 8 are up over twelve months and the median move is +16.7% - Interactive Brokers (IBKR) at +51.9% against KKR (KKR) at -21.4%. Price is not a fact about a business, and the Trend chapter of each report says what it is measured on.
Head to head
3 pairsThe table above gives the order. These put two of them in one column each, so you can see where the difference actually is.