L vs. AFG, HIG, AIG, EG, CINF, WRB, RNR, CNA, KNSL, and RLI
Should you be buying Loews stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Loews include American Financial Group (AFG), The Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), American International Group (AIG), Everest Group (EG), Cincinnati Financial (CINF), W. R. Berkley (WRB), RenaissanceRe (RNR), CNA Financial (CNA), Kinsale Capital Group (KNSL), and RLI (RLI). These companies are all part of the "fire, marine, & casualty insurance" industry.
American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) and Loews (NYSE:L) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, valuation, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.
American Financial Group received 50 more outperform votes than Loews when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.67% of users gave Loews an outperform vote while only 60.15% of users gave American Financial Group an outperform vote.
American Financial Group has a net margin of 11.03% compared to American Financial Group's net margin of 9.27%. Loews' return on equity of 21.34% beat American Financial Group's return on equity.
Loews has higher revenue and earnings than American Financial Group. Loews is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
American Financial Group has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Loews has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Loews pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. American Financial Group pays out 27.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Loews pays out 3.7% 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. American Financial Group has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years. American Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
64.4% of American Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.3% of Loews shares are held by institutional investors. 14.5% of American Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.7% of Loews shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Loews had 10 more articles in the media than American Financial Group. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Loews and 6 mentions for American Financial Group. Loews' average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat American Financial Group's score of 0.77 indicating that American Financial Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.
American Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $135.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.73%. Loews has a consensus price target of $170.00, suggesting a potential upside of 129.67%. Given American Financial Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Loews is more favorable than American Financial Group.
Summary
American Financial Group beats Loews on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding L and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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