Comparing Stewart Information Services (STC) and Its Rivals

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) is one of 311 public companies in the “Insurance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Stewart Information Services to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Stewart Information Services and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stewart Information Services	$2.92 billion	$115.54 million	11.79
Stewart Information Services Competitors	$15.36 billion	$1.70 billion	34.42

Stewart Information Services’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Stewart Information Services. Stewart Information Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stewart Information Services	3.58%	9.39%	4.77%
Stewart Information Services Competitors	9.09%	-9.93%	4.08%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Stewart Information Services and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stewart Information Services	1	2	4	0	2.43
Stewart Information Services Competitors	3335	15674	16522	740	2.40

Stewart Information Services currently has a consensus target price of $75.75, indicating a potential upside of 61.05%. As a group, “Insurance” companies have a potential upside of 5.89%. Given Stewart Information Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Stewart Information Services is more favorable than its competitors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.9% of Stewart Information Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of Stewart Information Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.6% of shares of all “Insurance” companies 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.

Dividends

Stewart Information Services pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Stewart Information Services pays out 55.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Insurance” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.9% and pay out 30.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Stewart Information Services has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Stewart Information Services has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stewart Information Services’ competitors have a beta of -1.58, suggesting that their average share price is 258% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Stewart Information Services beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Stewart Information Services Company Profile

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.