HCI Group (HCI) Competitors

Employers (NYSE:EIG) and HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor EIG or HCI?

Employers received 41 more outperform votes than HCI Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.67% of users gave Employers an outperform vote while only 61.64% of users gave HCI Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Employers	Outperform Votes 282 62.67%	Underperform Votes 168 37.33%
HCI Group	Outperform Votes 241 61.64%	Underperform Votes 150 38.36%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in EIG or HCI?

80.5% of Employers shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of HCI Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Employers shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 25.3% of HCI Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is EIG or HCI more profitable?

HCI Group has a net margin of 17.72% compared to HCI Group's net margin of 14.16%. Employers' return on equity of 40.30% beat HCI Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Employers	14.16%	10.49%	2.87%
HCI Group	17.72%	40.30%	6.32%

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, EIG or HCI?

Employers has higher revenue and earnings than HCI Group. Employers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HCI Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Employers	$850.90M	1.22	$118.10M	$4.72	8.70
HCI Group	$627.95M	1.65	$79.03M	$9.83	10.09

Is EIG or HCI a better dividend stock?

Employers pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. HCI Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Employers pays out 25.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HCI Group pays out 16.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Employers has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Employers is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, EIG or HCI?

Employers has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HCI Group has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor EIG or HCI?

In the previous week, Employers had 1 more articles in the media than HCI Group. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Employers and 4 mentions for HCI Group. HCI Group's average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat Employers' score of 1.00 indicating that Employers is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Employers	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
HCI Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer EIG or HCI?

Employers currently has a consensus price target of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.40%. HCI Group has a consensus price target of $127.75, indicating a potential upside of 28.42%. Given HCI Group's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Employers is more favorable than HCI Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Employers	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
HCI Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

HCI Group beats Employers on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.