Mercury General (MCY) Competitors

CNA Financial (NYSE:CNA) and Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Does the media refer more to CNA or MCY?

In the previous week, CNA Financial and CNA Financial both had 8 articles in the media. CNA Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Mercury General's score of 0.83 indicating that CNA Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CNA Financial	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Mercury General	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate CNA or MCY?

CNA Financial presently has a consensus target price of $50.50, suggesting a potential upside of 6.37%. Mercury General has a consensus target price of $80.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.47%. Given Mercury General's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mercury General is more favorable than CNA Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CNA Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Mercury General	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CNA or MCY?

CNA Financial received 48 more outperform votes than Mercury General when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.85% of users gave CNA Financial an outperform vote while only 51.23% of users gave Mercury General an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
CNA Financial	Outperform Votes 297 65.85%	Underperform Votes 154 34.15%
Mercury General	Outperform Votes 249 51.23%	Underperform Votes 237 48.77%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, CNA or MCY?

CNA Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Mercury General. Mercury General is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CNA Financial, 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
CNA Financial	$14.18B	0.91	$959M	$3.28	14.47
Mercury General	$5.60B	0.60	$467.95M	$5.16	11.70

Is CNA or MCY a better dividend stock?

CNA Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Mercury General pays an annual dividend of $1.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. CNA Financial pays out 56.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mercury General pays out 24.6% 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. CNA Financial has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. CNA Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in CNA or MCY?

98.4% of CNA Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.4% of Mercury General shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of CNA Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 35.5% of Mercury General shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CNA or MCY more profitable?

Mercury General has a net margin of 8.55% compared to CNA Financial's net margin of 6.72%. Mercury General's return on equity of 22.54% beat CNA Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CNA Financial	6.72%	12.90%	1.99%
Mercury General	8.55%	22.54%	5.04%

Which has more volatility & risk, CNA or MCY?

CNA Financial has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercury General has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CNA Financial and Mercury General tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.