Essent Group (ESNT) Competitors

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) and MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership and earnings.

Which has more risk & volatility, ESNT or MTG?

Essent Group has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MGIC Investment has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ESNT or MTG more profitable?

MGIC Investment has a net margin of 62.85% compared to Essent Group's net margin of 61.40%. MGIC Investment's return on equity of 15.00% beat Essent Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essent Group	61.40%	14.24%	11.28%
MGIC Investment	62.85%	15.00%	11.57%

Which has better valuation & earnings, ESNT or MTG?

MGIC Investment has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Essent Group. MGIC Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essent Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essent Group	$1.16B	5.22	$696.39M	$6.61	8.60
MGIC Investment	$1.16B	4.89	$712.95M	$2.60	8.15

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ESNT or MTG?

MGIC Investment received 49 more outperform votes than Essent Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.27% of users gave MGIC Investment an outperform vote while only 65.75% of users gave Essent Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Essent Group	Outperform Votes 432 65.75%	Underperform Votes 225 34.25%
MGIC Investment	Outperform Votes 481 67.27%	Underperform Votes 234 32.73%

Do analysts prefer ESNT or MTG?

Essent Group presently has a consensus price target of $58.75, indicating a potential upside of 3.38%. MGIC Investment has a consensus price target of $21.08, indicating a potential downside of 0.50%. Given Essent Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Essent Group is more favorable than MGIC Investment.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essent Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
MGIC Investment	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ESNT or MTG?

93.0% of Essent Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.6% of MGIC Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of Essent Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of MGIC Investment shares are owned by company 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.

Is ESNT or MTG a better dividend stock?

Essent Group pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. MGIC Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Essent Group pays out 16.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MGIC Investment pays out 17.7% 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.

Does the media refer more to ESNT or MTG?

In the previous week, Essent Group had 1 more articles in the media than MGIC Investment. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Essent Group and 5 mentions for MGIC Investment. MGIC Investment's average media sentiment score of 0.93 beat Essent Group's score of 0.76 indicating that MGIC Investment is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Essent Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
MGIC Investment	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Essent Group and MGIC Investment tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.