Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report) and International General Insurance (NASDAQ:IGIC – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and valuation.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
92.2% of Assured Guaranty shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of International General Insurance shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of Assured Guaranty shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.1% of International General Insurance shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Risk & Volatility
Assured Guaranty has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, International General Insurance has a beta of 0.16, indicating that its stock price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Assured Guaranty | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.50 |
| International General Insurance | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus target price of $101.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.90%. International General Insurance has a consensus target price of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.37%. Given International General Insurance’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe International General Insurance is more favorable than Assured Guaranty.
Profitability
This table compares Assured Guaranty and International General Insurance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Assured Guaranty | 40.65% | 7.09% | 3.35% |
| International General Insurance | 23.76% | 18.36% | 5.82% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Assured Guaranty and International General Insurance”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Assured Guaranty | $872.00 million | 4.49 | $376.00 million | $8.06 | 10.54 |
| International General Insurance | $524.05 million | 2.02 | $135.15 million | $2.76 | 8.60 |
Assured Guaranty has higher revenue and earnings than International General Insurance. International General Insurance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assured Guaranty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Assured Guaranty pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. International General Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Assured Guaranty pays out 16.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. International General Insurance pays out 7.2% 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. Assured Guaranty has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years and International General Insurance has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Assured Guaranty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
Assured Guaranty beats International General Insurance on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Assured Guaranty
Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments. It insures and reinsures various debt obligations, including bonds issued by the United States state governmental authorities; and notes issued to finance infrastructure projects. In addition, the company insures and reinsures various the U.S. public finance obligations, such as general obligation, tax-backed, municipal utility, transportation, healthcare, higher education, infrastructure, housing revenue, investor-owned utility, renewable energy, and other public finance bonds. Further, the company involved in insuring and reinsuring of non-U.S. public finance obligations comprising regulated utilities, infrastructure finance, sovereign and sub-sovereign, renewable energy bonds, pooled infrastructure, and other public finance obligations; and the U.S. and non-U.S. Structured finance obligations, including residential mortgage-backed securities, life insurance transactions, consumer receivables securities, subscription finance facilities, pooled corporate obligations, and financial products. Additionally, it offers specialty business, such as real estate properties, insurance securitizations, and aircraft residual value insurance (RVI) transactions; and asset management services comprising investment advisory services. It markets its financial guaranty insurance directly to issuers and underwriters of public finance and structured finance securities, as well as to investors in such obligations. Assured Guaranty Ltd. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
About International General Insurance
International General Insurance Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Specialty Long-tail, Specialty Short-tail, and Reinsurance. It is involved in underwriting a portfolio of specialty risks, including energy, property, construction and engineering, ports and terminals, general aviation, political violence, professional lines, financial institutions, motor, marine liability, contingency, marine, treaty, and casualty insurance and reinsurance. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Amman, Jordan.
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