CNO Financial Group (CNO) Competitors

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) and Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment and earnings.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in CNO or AIZ?

95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Assurant shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Assurant shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, CNO or AIZ?

CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assurant has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CNO or AIZ more profitable?

CNO Financial Group has a net margin of 6.41% compared to Assurant's net margin of 5.83%. CNO Financial Group's return on equity of 16.63% beat Assurant's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CNO Financial Group	6.41%	16.63%	1.13%
Assurant	5.83%	16.47%	2.47%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CNO or AIZ?

Assurant has higher revenue and earnings than CNO Financial Group. CNO Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assurant, 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
CNO Financial Group	$4.45B	0.86	$404M	$2.71	14.62
Assurant	$12.30B	0.86	$760.20M	$13.81	15.27

Do analysts prefer CNO or AIZ?

CNO Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $43.60, suggesting a potential upside of 10.06%. Assurant has a consensus price target of $243.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.23%. Given Assurant's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Assurant is more favorable than CNO Financial Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CNO Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Assurant	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Does the media favor CNO or AIZ?

In the previous week, Assurant had 20 more articles in the media than CNO Financial Group. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Assurant and 5 mentions for CNO Financial Group. CNO Financial Group's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Assurant's score of 1.13 indicating that CNO Financial Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CNO Financial Group	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Assurant	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CNO or AIZ a better dividend stock?

CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. CNO Financial Group pays out 25.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Assurant pays out 23.2% 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. CNO Financial Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Assurant has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Summary

Assurant beats CNO Financial Group on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.