Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) Competitors

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) and Progressive (NYSE:PGR) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and community ranking.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, BRK.B or PGR?

Berkshire Hathaway has higher revenue and earnings than Progressive. Berkshire Hathaway is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Progressive, 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
Berkshire Hathaway	$415.78B	2.66	$96.22B	$37.52	13.69
Progressive	$78.51B	2.13	$8.48B	$14.83	19.26

Do institutionals and insiders believe in BRK.B or PGR?

39.3% of Berkshire Hathaway shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.3% of Progressive shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of Berkshire Hathaway shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Progressive shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in BRK.B or PGR?

Progressive received 346 more outperform votes than Berkshire Hathaway when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.41% of users gave Berkshire Hathaway an outperform vote while only 54.75% of users gave Progressive an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Berkshire Hathaway	Outperform Votes 271 67.41%	Underperform Votes 131 32.59%
Progressive	Outperform Votes 617 54.75%	Underperform Votes 510 45.25%

Is BRK.B or PGR more profitable?

Berkshire Hathaway has a net margin of 28.89% compared to Progressive's net margin of 11.25%. Progressive's return on equity of 33.79% beat Berkshire Hathaway's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Berkshire Hathaway	28.89%	6.94%	3.77%
Progressive	11.25%	33.79%	8.21%

Do analysts prefer BRK.B or PGR?

Berkshire Hathaway currently has a consensus target price of $520.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.26%. Progressive has a consensus target price of $287.65, suggesting a potential upside of 0.69%. Given Berkshire Hathaway's higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Berkshire Hathaway is more favorable than Progressive.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Berkshire Hathaway	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Progressive	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.61

Does the media refer more to BRK.B or PGR?

In the previous week, Berkshire Hathaway had 35 more articles in the media than Progressive. MarketBeat recorded 71 mentions for Berkshire Hathaway and 36 mentions for Progressive. Progressive's average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat Berkshire Hathaway's score of 0.17 indicating that Progressive is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Berkshire Hathaway	22 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	31 Neutral mention(s)	14 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Progressive	34 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, BRK.B or PGR?

Berkshire Hathaway has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Progressive has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Berkshire Hathaway beats Progressive on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.