Essent Group (ESNT) Competitors

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) and Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk & volatility, FITB or ESNT?

Fifth Third Bancorp has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essent Group has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FITB or ESNT more profitable?

Essent Group has a net margin of 57.29% compared to Fifth Third Bancorp's net margin of 17.97%. Fifth Third Bancorp's return on equity of 13.31% beat Essent Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fifth Third Bancorp	17.97%	13.31%	1.15%
Essent Group	57.29%	12.98%	10.28%

Is FITB or ESNT a better dividend stock?

Fifth Third Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Essent Group pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Fifth Third Bancorp pays out 46.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Essent Group pays out 18.2% 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. Fifth Third Bancorp has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Essent Group has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Fifth Third Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FITB or ESNT?

83.8% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.0% of Essent Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Essent Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer FITB or ESNT?

In the previous week, Fifth Third Bancorp had 6 more articles in the media than Essent Group. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Fifth Third Bancorp and 9 mentions for Essent Group. Fifth Third Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat Essent Group's score of 1.15 indicating that Fifth Third Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Fifth Third Bancorp	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Essent Group	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend FITB or ESNT?

Fifth Third Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $47.80, indicating a potential upside of 16.84%. Essent Group has a consensus target price of $63.71, indicating a potential upside of 12.73%. Given Fifth Third Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Fifth Third Bancorp is more favorable than Essent Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fifth Third Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82
Essent Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Which has better valuation & earnings, FITB or ESNT?

Fifth Third Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Essent Group. Essent Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fifth Third Bancorp, 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
Fifth Third Bancorp	$13.28B	2.06	$2.31B	$3.22	12.70
Essent Group	$1.24B	4.61	$729.40M	$6.83	8.28

Summary

Fifth Third Bancorp beats Essent Group on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.