Contrasting Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) & Everest Group (NYSE:EG)

Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) and Everest Group (NYSE:EG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Old Republic International and Everest Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Old Republic International	0	0	2	0	3.00
Everest Group	0	7	5	1	2.54

Old Republic International presently has a consensus target price of $43.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7.85%. Everest Group has a consensus target price of $397.14, suggesting a potential upside of 16.93%. Given Everest Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Everest Group is more favorable than Old Republic International.

Dividends

Old Republic International pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Everest Group pays an annual dividend of $8.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Old Republic International pays out 39.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Everest Group pays out 42.5% 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. Old Republic International has increased its dividend for 45 consecutive years and Everest Group has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Old Republic International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Old Republic International has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Everest Group has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.9% of Old Republic International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of Everest Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Old Republic International shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Everest Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Old Republic International and Everest Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Old Republic International	10.31%	20.95%	4.45%
Everest Group	4.56%	5.89%	1.49%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Old Republic International and Everest Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Old Republic International	$8.67 billion	1.16	$852.80 million	$2.92	13.81
Everest Group	$17.28 billion	0.82	$1.37 billion	$18.84	18.03

Everest Group has higher revenue and earnings than Old Republic International. Old Republic International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Everest Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Old Republic International

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance underwriting and related services business primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: General Insurance, Title Insurance, and Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business. The General Insurance segment offers aviation, commercial auto, commercial multi-peril, commercial property, general liability, home and auto warranty, inland marine, travel accident, and workers' compensation insurance products; and financial indemnity products for specialty coverages, including errors and omissions, fidelity, directors and officers, and surety. This segment provides its insurance products to businesses, state and local government, and other institutions in transportation, commercial construction, healthcare, education, retail and wholesale trade, forest products, energy, general manufacturing, and financial services industries. The Title Insurance segment offers lenders' and owners' policies to real estate purchasers and investors based upon searches of the public records. This segment also provides escrow closing and construction disbursement services; and real estate information products, national default management services, and various other services pertaining to real estate transfers and loan transactions. The Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business segment offers private mortgage insurance coverage that protects mortgage lenders and investors from default related losses on residential mortgage loans made primarily to homebuyers. Old Republic International Corporation was founded in 1923 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

About Everest Group

Everest Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segment, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Reinsurance segment writes property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines of business through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies in the United States, Bermuda, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The Insurance Operations segment writes property and casualty insurance directly, as well as through brokers, surplus lines, and general agents in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, Europe, South America, Singapore, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The company also provides treaty and facultative reinsurance products; admitted and non-admitted insurance products; and accident and health, specialty underwriters, eversports and entertainment, and surety and credit, marine and aviation, as well as structured and property hybrid solutions. In addition, it offers commercial property and casualty insurance products through wholesale and retail brokers, surplus lines brokers, and program administrators. The company was formerly known as Everest Re Group, Ltd. and changed its name to Everest Group, Ltd. in July 2023.Everest Group, Ltd., was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.