Beazley (BEZ) Competitors

Beazley (LON:BEZ) and Lancashire (LON:LRE) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability and dividends.

Which has more volatility and risk, BEZ or LRE?

Beazley has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lancashire has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to BEZ or LRE?

In the previous week, Lancashire had 1 more articles in the media than Beazley. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Lancashire and 0 mentions for Beazley. Beazley's average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Lancashire'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Beazley	Neutral
Lancashire	Neutral

Is BEZ or LRE a better dividend stock?

Beazley pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Lancashire pays an annual dividend of GBX 18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Beazley pays out 8.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lancashire pays out 34.3% 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.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, BEZ or LRE?

Beazley has higher revenue and earnings than Lancashire. Beazley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lancashire, 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
Beazley	£6.57B	1.09	£1.50B	£159.74	5.86
Lancashire	£536.12M	3.23	£199.02M	£52.49	10.95

Do analysts prefer BEZ or LRE?

Beazley currently has a consensus price target of GBX 1,150, suggesting a potential upside of 22.94%. Lancashire has a consensus price target of GBX 670, suggesting a potential upside of 16.52%. Given Beazley's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Beazley is more favorable than Lancashire.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Beazley	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Lancashire	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is BEZ or LRE more profitable?

Lancashire has a net margin of 37.12% compared to Beazley's net margin of 22.82%. Beazley's return on equity of 32.60% beat Lancashire's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Beazley	22.82%	32.60%	9.50%
Lancashire	37.12%	10.76%	6.75%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of BEZ or LRE?

72.5% of Beazley shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.5% of Lancashire shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of Beazley shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Lancashire shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Beazley beats Lancashire on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.