National Interstate (NATL) Competitors

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) and National Interstate (NASDAQ:NATL) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, AXS or NATL?

AXIS Capital has higher revenue and earnings than National Interstate. National Interstate is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AXIS Capital, 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
AXIS Capital	$6.04B	1.35	$1.08B	$10.08	10.29
National Interstate	$4.19B	0.46	-$134M	-$1.68	-15.76

Is AXS or NATL more profitable?

AXIS Capital has a net margin of 18.16% compared to National Interstate's net margin of -2.69%. National Interstate's return on equity of 59.25% beat AXIS Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AXIS Capital	18.16%	18.89%	3.05%
National Interstate	-2.69%	59.25%	2.80%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AXS or NATL?

93.4% of AXIS Capital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of National Interstate shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of AXIS Capital shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of National Interstate shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate AXS or NATL?

AXIS Capital currently has a consensus target price of $107.75, suggesting a potential upside of 3.86%. National Interstate has a consensus target price of $44.25, suggesting a potential upside of 67.08%. Given National Interstate's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe National Interstate is more favorable than AXIS Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AXIS Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70
National Interstate	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media prefer AXS or NATL?

In the previous week, AXIS Capital had 11 more articles in the media than National Interstate. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for AXIS Capital and 1 mentions for National Interstate. AXIS Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.95 beat National Interstate's score of 0.00 indicating that AXIS Capital is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AXIS Capital	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
National Interstate	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more risk and volatility, AXS or NATL?

AXIS Capital has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Interstate has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AXS or NATL?

AXIS Capital received 258 more outperform votes than National Interstate when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.76% of users gave National Interstate an outperform vote while only 54.86% of users gave AXIS Capital an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AXIS Capital	Outperform Votes 384 54.86%	Underperform Votes 316 45.14%
National Interstate	Outperform Votes 126 56.76%	Underperform Votes 96 43.24%

Summary

AXIS Capital beats National Interstate on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.