Essent Group (ESNT) Competitors

Prudential (NYSE:PUK) and Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Does the media prefer PUK or ESNT?

In the previous week, Essent Group had 4 more articles in the media than Prudential. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Essent Group and 4 mentions for Prudential. Prudential's average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat Essent Group's score of 0.92 indicating that Prudential is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prudential	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Essent Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PUK or ESNT?

Prudential received 14 more outperform votes than Essent Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.62% of users gave Essent Group an outperform vote while only 61.78% of users gave Prudential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prudential	Outperform Votes 451 61.78%	Underperform Votes 279 38.22%
Essent Group	Outperform Votes 437 65.62%	Underperform Votes 229 34.38%

Is PUK or ESNT a better dividend stock?

Prudential pays an annual dividend of $0.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Essent Group pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Essent Group pays out 16.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Is PUK or ESNT more profitable?

Essent Group has a net margin of 61.31% compared to Prudential's net margin of 0.00%. Essent Group's return on equity of 14.40% beat Prudential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential	N/A	N/A	N/A
Essent Group	61.31%	14.40%	11.46%

Do analysts prefer PUK or ESNT?

Essent Group has a consensus target price of $66.50, suggesting a potential upside of 4.94%. Given Essent Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Essent Group is more favorable than Prudential.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Essent Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Do institutionals and insiders believe in PUK or ESNT?

1.9% of Prudential shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.0% of Essent Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Prudential 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 stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, PUK or ESNT?

Prudential has higher revenue and earnings than Essent Group.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prudential	$19.50B	1.24	$1.70B	N/A	N/A
Essent Group	$1.11B	6.07	$696.39M	$6.91	9.17

Which has more risk and volatility, PUK or ESNT?

Prudential has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essent Group has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Essent Group beats Prudential on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.