Intact Financial (IFC) Competitors

Intact Financial (TSE:IFC) and Fairfax Financial (TSE:FFH) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk and media sentiment.

Is IFC or FFH a better dividend stock?

Intact Financial pays an annual dividend of C$4.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Fairfax Financial pays an annual dividend of C$20.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Intact Financial pays out 37.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fairfax Financial pays out 7.8% 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.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in IFC or FFH?

53.7% of Intact Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.0% of Fairfax Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Intact Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Fairfax Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better earnings & valuation, IFC or FFH?

Fairfax Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Intact Financial. Fairfax Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Intact 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
Intact Financial	C$26.64B	1.89	C$2.29B	C$12.91	21.92
Fairfax Financial	C$21.14B	1.82	C$2.94B	C$261.16	9.20

Does the media prefer IFC or FFH?

In the previous week, Intact Financial had 27 more articles in the media than Fairfax Financial. MarketBeat recorded 44 mentions for Intact Financial and 17 mentions for Fairfax Financial. Intact Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat Fairfax Financial's score of 0.22 indicating that Intact Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Intact Financial	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fairfax Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, IFC or FFH?

Intact Financial has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fairfax Financial has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is IFC or FFH more profitable?

Fairfax Financial has a net margin of 13.90% compared to Intact Financial's net margin of 8.60%. Fairfax Financial's return on equity of 17.43% beat Intact Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intact Financial	8.60%	13.13%	3.55%
Fairfax Financial	13.90%	17.43%	4.27%

Do analysts recommend IFC or FFH?

Intact Financial currently has a consensus price target of C$322.20, indicating a potential upside of 13.82%. Fairfax Financial has a consensus price target of C$2,721.43, indicating a potential upside of 13.31%. Given Intact Financial's higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Intact Financial is more favorable than Fairfax Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intact Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56
Fairfax Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

Intact Financial and Fairfax Financial tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.