United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) and Tiptree (NASDAQ:TIPT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
60.0% of United Fire Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.3% of Tiptree shares are held by institutional investors. 6.9% of United Fire Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.0% of Tiptree shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares United Fire Group and Tiptree's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
United Fire Group | -12.08% | -7.65% | -2.17% |
Tiptree | -5.16% | -10.73% | -1.59% |
Dividends
United Fire Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Tiptree pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. United Fire Group pays out -55.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Fire Group has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Tiptree has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for United Fire Group and Tiptree, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
United Fire Group | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Tiptree | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
United Fire Group presently has a consensus target price of $26.00, indicating a potential downside of 21.47%. Given United Fire Group's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe United Fire Group is more favorable than Tiptree.
Risk and Volatility
United Fire Group has a beta of 0.15, suggesting that its stock price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tiptree has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares United Fire Group and Tiptree's top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
United Fire Group | $1.20 billion | 0.69 | $14.82 million | ($1.08) | -30.66 |
Tiptree | $772.73 million | 0.47 | $18.36 million | N/A | N/A |
Tiptree has lower revenue, but higher earnings than United Fire Group.
Summary
United Fire Group beats Tiptree on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.