AMERISAFE (AMSF) Competitors

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) and Employers (NYSE:EIG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend AMSF or EIG?

AMERISAFE presently has a consensus price target of $57.50, indicating a potential upside of 25.16%. Employers has a consensus price target of $58.00, indicating a potential upside of 34.93%. Given Employers' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Employers is more favorable than AMERISAFE.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AMERISAFE	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Employers	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AMSF or EIG?

Employers has higher revenue and earnings than AMERISAFE. Employers 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
AMERISAFE	$306.47M	2.85	$55.44M	$2.64	17.40
Employers	$880.70M	1.15	$118.60M	$4.10	10.48

Does the media favor AMSF or EIG?

In the previous week, Employers had 8 more articles in the media than AMERISAFE. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Employers and 5 mentions for AMERISAFE. AMERISAFE's average media sentiment score of 1.76 beat Employers' score of 1.21 indicating that AMERISAFE is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AMERISAFE	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Employers	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AMSF or EIG more profitable?

AMERISAFE has a net margin of 16.46% compared to Employers' net margin of 11.37%. AMERISAFE's return on equity of 16.54% beat Employers' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AMERISAFE	16.46%	16.54%	3.84%
Employers	11.37%	7.56%	2.29%

Which has more volatility & risk, AMSF or EIG?

AMERISAFE has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Employers has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AMSF or EIG?

97.4% of AMERISAFE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.5% of Employers shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of AMERISAFE shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Employers shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AMSF or EIG a better dividend stock?

AMERISAFE pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Employers pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. AMERISAFE pays out 59.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Employers pays out 31.2% 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 increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Employers has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. AMERISAFE is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

AMERISAFE beats Employers on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.