AMERISAFE (AMSF) Competitors

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) and AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in MCY or AMSF?

42.4% of Mercury General shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.4% of AMERISAFE shares are held by institutional investors. 35.5% of Mercury General shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of AMERISAFE shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MCY or AMSF?

Mercury General received 22 more outperform votes than AMERISAFE when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.04% of users gave AMERISAFE an outperform vote while only 51.23% of users gave Mercury General an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mercury General	Outperform Votes 249 51.23%	Underperform Votes 237 48.77%
AMERISAFE	Outperform Votes 227 57.04%	Underperform Votes 171 42.96%

Is MCY or AMSF a better dividend stock?

Mercury General pays an annual dividend of $1.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. AMERISAFE pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Mercury General pays out 24.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AMERISAFE pays out 62.9% 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. AMERISAFE has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. AMERISAFE is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, MCY or AMSF?

Mercury General has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AMERISAFE has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MCY or AMSF more profitable?

AMERISAFE has a net margin of 19.49% compared to Mercury General's net margin of 8.55%. Mercury General's return on equity of 22.54% beat AMERISAFE's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mercury General	8.55%	22.54%	5.04%
AMERISAFE	19.49%	16.50%	4.02%

Does the media refer more to MCY or AMSF?

In the previous week, Mercury General had 4 more articles in the media than AMERISAFE. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Mercury General and 3 mentions for AMERISAFE. AMERISAFE's average media sentiment score of 1.56 beat Mercury General's score of 0.83 indicating that AMERISAFE is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mercury General	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AMERISAFE	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts prefer MCY or AMSF?

Mercury General currently has a consensus target price of $80.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.47%. AMERISAFE has a consensus target price of $59.50, suggesting a potential upside of 27.16%. Given Mercury General's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Mercury General is more favorable than AMERISAFE.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mercury General	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00
AMERISAFE	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, MCY or AMSF?

Mercury General has higher revenue and earnings than AMERISAFE. Mercury General is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AMERISAFE, 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
Mercury General	$5.60B	0.60	$467.95M	$5.16	11.70
AMERISAFE	$301.22M	2.96	$62.11M	$2.48	18.87

Summary

Mercury General beats AMERISAFE on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.