AXIS Capital (AXS) Competitors

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) and AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WRB or AXS?

AXIS Capital received 43 more outperform votes than W. R. Berkley when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 54.86% of users gave AXIS Capital an outperform vote while only 50.44% of users gave W. R. Berkley an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
W. R. Berkley	Outperform Votes 341 50.44%	Underperform Votes 335 49.56%
AXIS Capital	Outperform Votes 384 54.86%	Underperform Votes 316 45.14%

Is WRB or AXS more profitable?

AXIS Capital has a net margin of 18.16% compared to W. R. Berkley's net margin of 12.88%. W. R. Berkley's return on equity of 20.83% beat AXIS Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. R. Berkley	12.88%	20.83%	4.27%
AXIS Capital	18.16%	18.89%	3.05%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, WRB or AXS?

W. R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than AXIS Capital. AXIS Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than W. R. Berkley, 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
W. R. Berkley	$13.95B	2.00	$1.76B	$4.31	17.05
AXIS Capital	$6.04B	1.34	$1.08B	$10.08	10.20

Does the media prefer WRB or AXS?

In the previous week, W. R. Berkley had 9 more articles in the media than AXIS Capital. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for W. R. Berkley and 23 mentions for AXIS Capital. W. R. Berkley's average media sentiment score of 1.26 beat AXIS Capital's score of 0.95 indicating that W. R. Berkley is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W. R. Berkley	20 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AXIS Capital	13 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in WRB or AXS?

68.8% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.4% of AXIS Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.3% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of AXIS Capital shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, WRB or AXS?

W. R. Berkley has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AXIS Capital has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer WRB or AXS?

W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus price target of $70.06, indicating a potential downside of 4.65%. AXIS Capital has a consensus price target of $107.75, indicating a potential upside of 4.77%. Given AXIS Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AXIS Capital is more favorable than W. R. Berkley.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. R. Berkley	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
AXIS Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70

Is WRB or AXS a better dividend stock?

W. R. Berkley pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. AXIS Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. W. R. Berkley pays out 7.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AXIS Capital pays out 17.5% 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. W. R. Berkley has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years.

Summary

W. R. Berkley beats AXIS Capital on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.