Prudential (PRU) Competitors

Prudential (LON:PRU) and Centrica (LON:CNA) are both insurance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Is PRU or CNA more profitable?

Prudential has a net margin of 7.99% compared to Centrica's net margin of 5.39%. Centrica's return on equity of 25.16% beat Prudential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential	7.99%	4.50%	1.23%
Centrica	5.39%	25.16%	-33.70%

Which has more volatility and risk, PRU or CNA?

Prudential has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Centrica has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PRU or CNA?

62.0% of Prudential shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of Centrica shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Prudential shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Centrica shares are owned 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.

Does the media prefer PRU or CNA?

In the previous week, Prudential had 7 more articles in the media than Centrica. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Prudential and 10 mentions for Centrica. Centrica's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat Prudential's score of 0.20 indicating that Centrica is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prudential	3 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Centrica	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, PRU or CNA?

Centrica has higher revenue and earnings than Prudential. Centrica is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prudential, 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
Prudential	£10.35B	2.92	£827.01M	£20.02	45.84
Centrica	£19.40B	0.40	£1.05B	£20.98	7.34

Do analysts prefer PRU or CNA?

Prudential presently has a consensus price target of GBX 1,153.33, indicating a potential upside of 25.69%. Centrica has a consensus price target of GBX 150, indicating a potential downside of 2.66%. Given Prudential's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Prudential is more favorable than Centrica.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Centrica	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.50

Is PRU or CNA a better dividend stock?

Prudential pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Centrica pays an annual dividend of GBX 4 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Prudential pays out 84.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Centrica pays out 19.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Centrica is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Prudential beats Centrica on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.