CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) vs. Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Head to Head Survey

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) and Equitable (NYSE:EQH) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares CNO Financial Group and Equitable’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CNO Financial Group	6.41%	16.63%	1.13%
Equitable	3.51%	81.58%	0.65%

Dividends

CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Equitable pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. CNO Financial Group pays out 25.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equitable pays out 87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. CNO Financial Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Equitable has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for CNO Financial Group and Equitable, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CNO Financial Group	0	3	2	0	2.40
Equitable	0	1	9	1	3.00

CNO Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $43.40, indicating a potential upside of 9.61%. Equitable has a consensus price target of $64.55, indicating a potential upside of 18.58%. Given Equitable’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Equitable is more favorable than CNO Financial Group.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Equitable shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of CNO Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Equitable shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equitable has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CNO Financial Group and Equitable”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CNO Financial Group	$4.45 billion	0.86	$404.00 million	$2.71	14.61
Equitable	$12.44 billion	1.31	$1.31 billion	$1.24	43.90

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

Summary

Equitable beats CNO Financial Group on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. The company also focuses on sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed indexed annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single and flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. It markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

About Equitable

Equitable Holdings, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates as a diversified financial services company worldwide. The company operates through six segments: Individual Retirement, Group Retirement, Investment Management and Research, Protection Solutions, Wealth Management, and Legacy. The Individual Retirement segment offers a suite of variable annuity products primarily to affluent and high net worth individuals. The Group Retirement segment provides tax-deferred investment and retirement services or products to plans sponsored by educational entities, municipalities, and not-for-profit entities, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. The Investment Management and Research segment offers diversified investment management, research, and related services to various clients through institutional. The Protection Solutions segment provides life insurance products, such as VUL insurance and IUL insurance, term life, and employee benefits business, such as dental, vision, life, as well as short- and long-term disability insurance products to small and medium-sized businesses. The Wealth Management segment offers discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory accounts, financial planning and advice, life insurance, and annuity products. The Legacy segment consists of the capital intensive fixed-rate GMxB business that includes ROP death benefits. The company was formerly known as AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Equitable Holdings, Inc. in January 2020. Equitable Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is based in New York, New York.