First American Financial (FAF) Competitors

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) and Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, community ranking, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Which has more risk and volatility, FAF or STC?

First American Financial has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stewart Information Services has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in FAF or STC?

89.1% of First American Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.9% of Stewart Information Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of First American Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Stewart Information Services shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is FAF or STC a better dividend stock?

First American Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Stewart Information Services pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. First American Financial pays out 101.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Stewart Information Services pays out 125.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. First American Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, FAF or STC?

First American Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Stewart Information Services. First American Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stewart Information Services, 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
First American Financial	$6.00B	0.95	$216.80M	$2.09	26.39
Stewart Information Services	$2.26B	0.78	$30.44M	$1.52	42.11

Does the media favor FAF or STC?

In the previous week, First American Financial had 2 more articles in the media than Stewart Information Services. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for First American Financial and 5 mentions for Stewart Information Services. Stewart Information Services' average media sentiment score of 0.78 beat First American Financial's score of 0.36 indicating that Stewart Information Services is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First American Financial	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Stewart Information Services	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend FAF or STC?

First American Financial currently has a consensus price target of $67.75, suggesting a potential upside of 22.71%. Stewart Information Services has a consensus price target of $69.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.16%. Given First American Financial's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe First American Financial is more favorable than Stewart Information Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First American Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Stewart Information Services	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FAF or STC?

First American Financial received 84 more outperform votes than Stewart Information Services when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.57% of users gave First American Financial an outperform vote while only 52.47% of users gave Stewart Information Services an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First American Financial	Outperform Votes 275 60.57%	Underperform Votes 179 39.43%
Stewart Information Services	Outperform Votes 191 52.47%	Underperform Votes 173 47.53%

Is FAF or STC more profitable?

First American Financial has a net margin of 3.64% compared to Stewart Information Services' net margin of 1.83%. First American Financial's return on equity of 8.17% beat Stewart Information Services' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First American Financial	3.64%	8.17%	2.51%
Stewart Information Services	1.83%	4.69%	2.39%

Summary

First American Financial beats Stewart Information Services on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.