BEZ vs. LRE, HSX, MNG, PHNX, FCIT, HL, PCT, ATST, INVP, and 3IN
Should you be buying Beazley stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Beazley include Lancashire (LRE), Hiscox (HSX), M&G (MNG), Phoenix Group (PHNX), F&C Investment Trust (FCIT), Hargreaves Lansdown (HL), Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT), Alliance Trust (ATST), Investec Group (INVP), and 3i Infrastructure (3IN). These companies are all part of the "financial services" sector.
Lancashire (LON:LRE) and Beazley (LON:BEZ) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, earnings and institutional ownership.
Beazley received 351 more outperform votes than Lancashire when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.83% of users gave Beazley an outperform vote while only 44.39% of users gave Lancashire an outperform vote.
Beazley has higher revenue and earnings than Lancashire. Beazley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lancashire, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
60.0% of Lancashire shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.4% of Beazley shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Lancashire shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Beazley shares are held 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.
Lancashire has a net margin of 26.70% compared to Lancashire's net margin of 20.14%. Lancashire's return on equity of 30.04% beat Beazley's return on equity.
Lancashire has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Beazley has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Beazley had 2 more articles in the media than Lancashire. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Beazley and 7 mentions for Lancashire. Lancashire's average media sentiment score of 0.62 beat Beazley's score of 0.01 indicating that Beazley is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Lancashire presently has a consensus price target of GBX 792, suggesting a potential upside of 32.89%. Beazley has a consensus price target of GBX 906, suggesting a potential upside of 43.92%. Given Lancashire's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Beazley is more favorable than Lancashire.
Lancashire pays an annual dividend of GBX 16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Beazley pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Lancashire pays out 1,523.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Beazley pays out 1,166.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Summary
Beazley beats Lancashire on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding BEZ and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of LON and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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