Financial Analysis: Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) versus Assicurazioni Generali (OTCMKTS:ARZGF)

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) and Assicurazioni Generali (OTCMKTS:ARZGF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Assurant and Assicurazioni Generali”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assurant	$13.46 billion	1.04	$872.70 million	$20.94	13.50
Assicurazioni Generali	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.24	38.76

Assurant has higher revenue and earnings than Assicurazioni Generali. Assurant is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assicurazioni Generali, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Assurant and Assicurazioni Generali’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assurant	7.90%	20.40%	3.34%
Assicurazioni Generali	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.7% of Assurant shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.6% of Assicurazioni Generali shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Assurant shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Assicurazioni Generali pays an annual dividend of $0.33 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Assurant pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Assicurazioni Generali pays out 26.3% 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. Assurant has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Assurant is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Assurant and Assicurazioni Generali, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assurant	0	1	6	1	3.00
Assicurazioni Generali	0	0	0	0	0.00

Assurant presently has a consensus target price of $313.71, indicating a potential upside of 10.95%. Given Assurant’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Assurant is more favorable than Assicurazioni Generali.

Summary

Assurant beats Assicurazioni Generali on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services. The Global Housing segment provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing, and flood insurance; renters insurance and related products; and voluntary manufactured housing, and condominium and homeowners insurance products. The company was formerly known as Fortis, Inc. and changed its name to Assurant, Inc. in February 2004. Assurant, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Assicurazioni Generali

Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. engages in the provision of various insurance solutions under the Generali brand worldwide. The company operates through Life, Property & Casualty, and Asset & Wealth Management segments. It offers savings, individual and family protection, and unit linked, as well as motor third-party liability, home, casualty, accident, health, and commercial and industrial risks insurance products; and insurance plans for multinational companies. The company also provides equity and fixed-income funds, and alternative products. The company was formerly known as Assicurazioni Generali Austro-Italiche and changed its name to Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. in 1848. Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. was founded in 1831 and is headquartered in Trieste, Italy.