Critical Review: Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK) vs. Goosehead Insurance (NASDAQ:GSHD)

Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK) and Goosehead Insurance (NASDAQ:GSHD) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.9% of Prudential Public shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Prudential Public shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 37.8% of Goosehead Insurance shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Prudential Public and Goosehead Insurance”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prudential Public	$16.66 billion	2.25	$2.29 billion	N/A	N/A
Goosehead Insurance	$314.51 million	5.70	$30.43 million	$1.13	43.09

Prudential Public has higher revenue and earnings than Goosehead Insurance.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Prudential Public and Goosehead Insurance, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential Public	0	1	5	0	2.83
Goosehead Insurance	1	6	6	0	2.38

Goosehead Insurance has a consensus target price of $90.30, suggesting a potential upside of 85.46%. Given Goosehead Insurance’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Goosehead Insurance is more favorable than Prudential Public.

Profitability

This table compares Prudential Public and Goosehead Insurance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential Public	N/A	N/A	N/A
Goosehead Insurance	8.55%	-34.60%	8.55%

Risk & Volatility

Prudential Public has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Goosehead Insurance has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Goosehead Insurance beats Prudential Public on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prudential Public

Prudential plc, through its subsidiaries, provides life and health insurance, and asset management solutions to individuals in Asia and Africa. The company was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.

About Goosehead Insurance

Goosehead Insurance, Inc. operates as a holding company for Goosehead Financial, LLC that engages in the provision of personal lines insurance agency services in the United States. The company offers homeowner’s, automotive, dwelling property, flood, wind, earthquake, excess liability or umbrella, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, general liability, property, and life insurance products and services. As of December 31, 2023, it operated 1,415 franchise locations. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Westlake, Texas.