Financial Contrast: W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) & Bowhead Specialty (NYSE:BOW)

Bowhead Specialty (NYSE:BOW) and W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bowhead Specialty and W.R. Berkley”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bowhead Specialty	$425.66 million	2.00	$38.24 million	$1.56	16.65
W.R. Berkley	$14.71 billion	1.84	$1.78 billion	$4.45	16.03

W.R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than Bowhead Specialty. W.R. Berkley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bowhead Specialty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

68.8% of W.R. Berkley shares are held by institutional investors. 23.3% of W.R. Berkley shares are held 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Bowhead Specialty and W.R. Berkley, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bowhead Specialty	1	3	5	0	2.44
W.R. Berkley	4	9	4	0	2.00

Bowhead Specialty currently has a consensus target price of $33.83, suggesting a potential upside of 30.25%. W.R. Berkley has a consensus target price of $69.67, suggesting a potential downside of 2.31%. Given Bowhead Specialty’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Bowhead Specialty is more favorable than W.R. Berkley.

Profitability

This table compares Bowhead Specialty and W.R. Berkley’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bowhead Specialty	10.12%	13.53%	2.91%
W.R. Berkley	12.10%	18.35%	4.03%

Risk & Volatility

Bowhead Specialty has a beta of -1.05, meaning that its stock price is 205% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, W.R. Berkley has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

W.R. Berkley beats Bowhead Specialty on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bowhead Specialty

Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. provides specialty property and casualty insurance products in the United States. It underwrites casualty insurance solutions for risks in the construction, distribution, heavy manufacturing, real estate, and hospitality segments; professional liability insurance solutions for financial institutions, private and public directors and officers liability insurance, errors and omissions liability insurance, and cyber segments; and healthcare solutions for hospitals, senior care providers, managed care organizations, miscellaneous medical facilities, and healthcare management liability segments. The company distributes its products through distribution partners in wholesale and retail markets. Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. was formerly known as Bowhead Holdings Inc. and changed its name to Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. in March 2024. The company was founded in 2020 and is based in New York, New York. Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Bowhead Insurance Holdings LP.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines. This segment also provides accident and health insurance and reinsurance products; insurance for commercial risks; casualty and specialty environmental products; specialized insurance coverages for fine arts and jewelry exposures; excess liability and inland marine coverage for small to medium-sized insureds; and commercial general liability, umbrella, professional liability, directors and officers, commercial property, and surety products, as well as products for technology, and life sciences and travel industries. In addition, this segment offers cyber risk solutions; crime and fidelity insurance products; medical professional coverages; workers' compensation insurance products; general insurance; personal lines insurance solutions, including home, condo/co-op, auto, and collectibles; automobile, law enforcement, public officials and educator's legal, and employment practices liability, as well as incidental medical and property and crime insurance products; at-risk and alternative risk insurance program management services; professional liability; energy and marine risks; and provides insurance products to the Lloyd's marketplace. The Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment provides treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions; property and casualty reinsurance; facultative reinsurance products include automatic, semi-automatic and individual risk assumed reinsurance; and turnkey products such as cyber, employment practices liability insurance, liquor liability insurance and violent events. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.