Ping An Insurance Co. of China (OTCMKTS:PNGAY) & Loews (NYSE:L) Financial Contrast

Loews (NYSE:L) and Ping An Insurance Co. of China (OTCMKTS:PNGAY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Loews pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Ping An Insurance Co. of China pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. Loews pays out 3.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ping An Insurance Co. of China pays out 43.8% 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Loews and Ping An Insurance Co. of China, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loews	0	0	0	1	4.00
Ping An Insurance Co. of China	0	1	0	0	2.00

Volatility & Risk

Loews has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ping An Insurance Co. of China has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Loews and Ping An Insurance Co. of China’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loews	8.83%	8.51%	1.91%
Ping An Insurance Co. of China	11.80%	10.91%	1.10%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.3% of Loews shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Ping An Insurance Co. of China shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of Loews shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Ping An Insurance Co. of China shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Loews and Ping An Insurance Co. of China”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Loews	$18.45 billion	1.20	$1.67 billion	$7.87	13.68
Ping An Insurance Co. of China	$158.64 billion	0.82	$18.75 billion	$2.01	7.10

Ping An Insurance Co. of China has higher revenue and earnings than Loews. Ping An Insurance Co. of China is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Loews, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Loews beats Ping An Insurance Co. of China on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Loews

Loews Corporation provides commercial property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. The company offers specialty insurance products, such as management and professional liability, and other coverage products; surety and fidelity bonds; property insurance products that include standard and excess property, marine and boiler, and machinery coverages; and casualty insurance products, such as workers' compensation, general and product liability, and commercial auto, surplus, and umbrella coverages. It also provides loss-sensitive insurance programs; and warranty, risk management, information, and claims administration services. The company markets its insurance products and services through independent agents, brokers, and managing general underwriters. In addition, the company is involved in the transportation and storage of natural gas and natural gas liquids, and hydrocarbons through natural gas pipelines covering approximately 13,455 miles of interconnected pipelines; 855 miles of NGL pipelines in Louisiana and Texas; 14 underground storage fields with an aggregate gas capacity of approximately 199.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas; and eleven salt dome caverns and related brine infrastructure for providing brine supply services. Further, the company operates a chain of 25 hotels; and develops, manufactures, and markets a range of extrusion blow-molded and injection molded plastic containers for customers in the pharmaceutical, dairy, household chemicals, food/nutraceuticals, industrial/specialty chemicals, and water and beverage/juice industries, as well as manufactures commodity and differentiated plastic resins from recycled plastic materials. Loews Corporation was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Ping An Insurance Co. of China

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. provides financial products and services for insurance, banking, asset management, and technology businesses in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through Life and Health Insurance; Property and Casualty Insurance; Banking; Asset Management; and Technology segments. Its Life and Health Insurance segment offers term, whole-life, endowment, annuity, investment-linked, universal life, and health care and medical insurance to individual and corporate customers. The company's Property and Casualty Insurance segment provides auto, non-auto, and accident and health insurance to individual and corporate customers. Its Banking segment undertakes loan and intermediary businesses with corporate and retail customers; and offers wealth management and credit card services to individual customers. The company's Asset Management segment provides trust products services, brokerage services, trading services, investment banking services, investment management, finance lease, and other asset management services. Its Technology segment offers financial and daily-life services through internet platforms, such as financial transaction information service, and health care service platforms. The company also provides annuity insurance, IT and business process outsourcing, real estate investment and management, futures brokerage, project investment, currency brokerage, property agency, fund raising and distribution, real estate development and leasing, and insurance agency services. In addition, it provides factoring, equity investment, logistics and warehousing, management consulting, e-commerce, and credit information services; and operates an expressway, as well as produces and sells consumer chemicals. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is based in Shenzhen, China.