Comparing MBIA (NYSE:MBI) & Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC)

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) and MBIA (NYSE:MBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Stewart Information Services and MBIA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stewart Information Services	4.12%	10.02%	5.12%
MBIA	-154.26%	N/A	-1.69%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Stewart Information Services and MBIA”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stewart Information Services	$3.27 billion	0.59	$115.54 million	$4.56	13.89
MBIA	$80.00 million	2.79	-$177.00 million	($2.89)	-1.52

Stewart Information Services has higher revenue and earnings than MBIA. MBIA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stewart Information Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Stewart Information Services and MBIA, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stewart Information Services	1	1	4	0	2.50
MBIA	1	0	1	0	2.00

Stewart Information Services presently has a consensus price target of $81.50, indicating a potential upside of 28.71%. MBIA has a consensus price target of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 59.64%. Given MBIA’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MBIA is more favorable than Stewart Information Services.

Volatility & Risk

Stewart Information Services has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MBIA has a beta of 1.64, suggesting that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.9% of Stewart Information Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.0% of MBIA shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of Stewart Information Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.3% of MBIA shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Stewart Information Services beats MBIA on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stewart Information Services

Stewart Information Services Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides title insurance and real estate transaction related services in the United States and internationally. The company involves in searching, examining, closing, and insuring the condition of the title to real property. It also offers home and personal insurance services; services for tax-deferred exchanges; and digital customer engagement platform services. It also provides appraisal management, online notarization and closing, credit and real estate information, and search and valuation services. The company serves homebuyers and sellers, residential and commercial real estate professionals, mortgage lenders and servicers, title agencies and real estate attorneys, and home builders through direct operations, network of independent agencies, and other businesses. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About MBIA

MBIA Inc. provides financial guarantee insurance services to public finance markets in the United States. It operates United States (U.S.) Public Finance Insurance, and International and Structured Finance Insurance segments. The company issues financial guarantees for municipal bonds, including tax-exempt and taxable indebtedness of the U.S. political subdivisions, as well as utility districts, airports, health care institutions, higher educational facilities, housing authorities, and other similar agencies and obligations issued by private entities. It also insures the non-U.S. public finance and global structured finance, including asset-backed obligations; and sovereign-related and sub-sovereign bonds, and privately issued bonds used for the financing for utilities, toll roads, bridges, public transportation facilities, and other types of infrastructure projects, as well as offers third-party reinsurance services. MBIA Inc. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.