JEF vs LAZ: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Last updated October 2026

Short answer

JEF is the larger of the two ($10.29B market cap): the incumbent the market prices for continued execution (9.91x forward earnings, beta 1.54). LAZ is the smaller challenger ($3.55B), priced similarly on forward earnings (10.10x): more room to run, but more to prove. The real question is which set of drivers you believe, and whether owning one (or both) leaves you over-concentrated.

JEF vs LAZ: the tie-breaker metrics

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Metric	JEF	LAZ	What it tells you
Market cap	$10.29B	$3.55B	Size. The larger name is the incumbent; the smaller has more room to grow and more to prove.
Forward P/E	9.91	10.10	Valuation on next year's expected earnings, the same yardstick for both. Lower is cheaper for that growth; higher means the market is paying up.
Trailing P/E	11.95	17.69	Valuation on the last 12 months. A big drop from trailing to forward means the market expects earnings to jump, so more growth is already in the price.
Beta	1.54	1.46	Volatility vs the market. Above 1 swings harder than the index; below 1 is steadier. Higher beta means bigger drawdowns to hold through.
Price vs 52-week range	30% of range	8% of range	Where today's price sits between the 52-week low and high. Near the high is momentum with less margin of safety; near the low is out of favor or a discount, depending on why.
Price / book	0.96	3.85	How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price.

Before you buy: how JEF and LAZ affect your concentration

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. JEF and LAZ share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined JEF and LAZ exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

What does Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) do?

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is a New York holding company founded in 1968 and run by Richard Handler, who has been chief executive since 2001. It reports two segments. Investment Banking and Capital Markets is the bulk of the firm: in the quarter ended August 31, 2026 investment banking produced ~$1.33 billion of net revenues, split between advisory at ~$818 million, equity underwriting at ~$306 million and debt underwriting at ~$177 million, while capital markets added ~$802 million from equities (~$626 million) and fixed income (~$176 million). Asset Management, which operates as Leucadia Asset Management, contributed only ~$86 million, roughly half the year-earlier figure. The firm employed 7,065 people at quarter end (6,585 excluding the Tessellis and Stratos holdings), carried ~$81.3 billion of total assets at ~7.6 times leverage, and closes its fiscal year on November 30, so fiscal 2026 runs from December 2025 through November 2026. It has spent several years shedding the legacy merchant banking holdings inherited from the old Leucadia National, which is why the business now reads as a Wall Street firm rather than the conglomerate it was a decade ago. Its Japanese partner SMBC raised its stake to about 20%, making it the largest shareholder, and a Japan joint venture is expected to start serving clients in January 2027.

Full JEF guide

What does Lazard (LAZ) do?

Lazard Inc. operates two core businesses. Financial Advisory provides mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, capital-markets, and sovereign advice to companies, governments, and institutions worldwide, and Asset Management runs equity, fixed-income, multi-asset, and alternatives strategies for institutional and private clients. At September 30, 2026 the firm managed about $284 billion in assets and had generated about $3.2 billion in trailing revenue, split between the two segments. It carries a market capitalization near $3.6 billion as of October 16, 2026, making it a mid-cap franchise with an outsized brand relative to its size.

Full LAZ guide

JEF vs LAZ: how do they differ?

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

JEF drivers: Investment banking keeps taking share; Equities is the quieter engine.
LAZ drivers: M&A and restructuring cycle; Asset Management inflows and AUM.

Which fits which kind of investor

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The clearest risk is that the trade finance losses are a pattern rather than two accidents. For LAZ, advisory revenue is highly cyclical and can drop sharply when M&A and capital-markets activity slows, which directly pressures earnings and the ability to sustain the dividend.

JEF or LAZ: which should you pick?

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick JEF if you believe its drivers more; LAZ if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the JEF and LAZ guides.

JEF vs LAZ: the full fundamentals

JEF. At ~$44.71 the stock trades slightly below stated book value of ~$46.55 per common share and at roughly 1.3 times adjusted tangible book of ~$35.21, with the gap between the two being goodwill and intangibles from earlier acquisitions. Trailing earnings of ~$3.75 per share put the multiple near 12, and consensus fiscal 2027 EPS of ~$4.52 puts the forward multiple near 10, cheaper than a year ago even though the latest quarter beat estimates. The 52-week range of ~$35.53 to ~$66.60 is the more telling number, because the market has repriced this business sharply inside a year while reported earnings moved nothing like that far; fiscal fourth-quarter results are expected in January 2027.

LAZ. Lazard trades as a mid-cap value-and-income name, with a dividend yield near 5.5% as of October 16, 2026 that reflects both the firm's payout and the market's discount for cyclical advisory earnings after a ~27% fall this year. The second quarter's sharp earnings miss pushed the trailing P/E to about 17.9x, while the forward multiple of about 10x assumes a recovery in 2027. Valuation debates hinge on whether the advisory cycle reaccelerates, whether asset-management flows turn positive again, and what the October 22, 2026 report shows.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): JEF shows net revenues (trailing four quarters) ~$8.5 billion, against ~$7.3 billion for fiscal 2025, q3 fy2026 (quarter ended aug 31, 2026) net revenues ~$2.22 billion (up ~8.5%), diluted EPS $1.08 vs ~$1.00 est., net income (ttm) ~$857 million, book value per common share ~$46.55, roughly 0.96x the ~$44.71 share price; LAZ shows revenue (ttm) ~$3.2B, revenue growth (q2 2026, yoy) ~0%, net income (ttm) ~$219M, p/e (trailing / forward) ~17.9x / ~10.2x.

The bottom line: JEF vs LAZ

JEF and LAZ are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined JEF and LAZ exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.

Wondering how JEF or LAZ fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.

Investing in Jefferies Financial Group with AI

Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how JEF fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.

Does JEF fit me?

FAQ

What is the difference between JEF and LAZ?

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Lazard Inc. They show up together because they share investment themes, but they are different businesses, so the better fit depends on which thesis you are expressing.

Is JEF or LAZ the better stock?

Neither is universally better. JEF is the larger incumbent; LAZ is the smaller challenger and looks pricier on forward earnings. Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Compare what each does, the tie-breaker metrics above, and the risks, then decide which fits your thesis and what you already own.

Which is cheaper, JEF or LAZ?

On forward P/E (as of October 2026), JEF trades at 9.91x and LAZ at 10.10x, so JEF is the cheaper of the two on next year's expected earnings. A lower multiple is not automatically the better buy: a richer valuation can be justified by faster growth, and a lower one can reflect real risk. Weigh the multiple against how fast each business is compounding.

Should you own both JEF and LAZ?

Because they share themes, owning both concentrates you in that theme. That can be intentional (a focused bet) or accidental (less diversification than it looks). Walnut can show your combined exposure across both, and whether adding either over-concentrates you, before you buy.

What are the risks of JEF vs LAZ?

JEF: The clearest risk is that the trade finance losses are a pattern rather than two accidents. Point Bonita held roughly $715 million of First Brands receivables when that company collapsed in September 2025, about a quarter of the fund's trade finance book, and eleven months later LAM Trade Finance Group II alleged in London that Radiant World had faked the invoices behind nearly $500 million more. Both vehicles sit inside Leucadia Asset Management, so the direct earnings damage has been contained (the disclosed First Brands loss of Jefferies' own capital was about $30 million), but asset management revenue has already halved year over year and the reputational cost falls on a firm whose business is intermediating other people's credit. Regulatory and legal overhang is real: the SEC and Department of Justice have been reviewing the First Brands disclosures and reportedly the firm's internal controls and internal conflicts, Western Alliance Bank has sued over $126.4 million it says it is owed under a forbearance agreement, and two Eugenia investment vehicles have sued over how the Point Bonita receivables were described, while a long list of plaintiff firms has announced securities-fraud investigations. Book value per common share also fell to ~$46.55 at August 31, 2026 from ~$50.60 a year earlier. Underneath the headlines, this is a cyclical business funded in wholesale markets rather than by deposits, operating at roughly 7.6 times leverage on ~$81.3 billion of assets, and its revenue falls hard when issuance and M&A windows close, as they did across 2022 and 2023. Consensus expects fiscal fourth-quarter EPS of about $0.89, down roughly 7 percent from a year earlier. LAZ: Advisory revenue is highly cyclical and can drop sharply when M&A and capital-markets activity slows, which directly pressures earnings and the ability to sustain the dividend. Asset-management flows have been inconsistent, with net outflows in some recent months (about $900 million in September 2026) offsetting the record first-quarter inflows, and AUM is sensitive to equity-market swings. Lazard competes against faster-growing boutiques such as Evercore, Moelis, and Houlihan Lokey, several of which have outgrown its advisory business over the past five years. Talent is the core asset, so senior-banker departures can move revenue, and integration risk accompanies the Campbell Lutyens acquisition. Compensation costs consume a large share of revenue and compress margins in weaker quarters. The second quarter of 2026 showed how quickly earnings can drop: net income fell to about $4.8 million and adjusted EPS of $0.12 missed consensus by a wide margin, leaving the dividend covered only about once by trailing earnings. The shares have fallen about 27% in 2026, and UBS cut its price target to $40 from $44 on October 7 while keeping a Neutral rating.

Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell JEF or LAZ; figures are approximate and dated (as of October 2026). Verify current data before investing.