Comparing Protector Forsikring ASA (OTCMKTS:PSKRF) & Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO)

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) and Protector Forsikring ASA (OTCMKTS:PSKRF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.8% of Assured Guaranty shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Assured Guaranty shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Assured Guaranty and Protector Forsikring ASA, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assured Guaranty	0	0	2	0	3.00
Protector Forsikring ASA	0	0	1	0	3.00

Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus price target of $84.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.56%. Given Assured Guaranty’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Assured Guaranty is more favorable than Protector Forsikring ASA.

Profitability

This table compares Assured Guaranty and Protector Forsikring ASA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assured Guaranty	31.86%	4.73%	1.50%
Protector Forsikring ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Assured Guaranty and Protector Forsikring ASA’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assured Guaranty	$723.00 million	5.22	$124.00 million	$5.10	12.62
Protector Forsikring ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Assured Guaranty has higher revenue and earnings than Protector Forsikring ASA.

Summary

Assured Guaranty beats Protector Forsikring ASA on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Insurance and Asset Management. It offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments. In addition, the company insures and reinsures various debt obligations, including bonds issued by the United States state governmental authorities; and notes issued to finance infrastructure projects. Further, it 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. Additionally, the company is 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, pooled corporate obligations, and financial products. Furthermore, it offers specialty insurance and reinsurance that include life and aircraft residual value insurance 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 Protector Forsikring ASA

Protector Forsikring ASA, a general insurance company, provides various insurance products to the commercial and public sectors, and the affinity insurance markets in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Finland. It operates in Commercial Lines of Business and Public Lines of Business segments. The company offers personal, motor, property, liability, and change of ownership insurance. It sells its products to non-marine industries through insurance brokers. Protector Forsikring ASA was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.