Seibels Bruce Group (OTCMKTS:SBBG) versus Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Critical Survey

Seibels Bruce Group (OTCMKTS:SBBG) and Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Seibels Bruce Group has a beta of 4.85, suggesting that its share price is 385% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essent Group has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Seibels Bruce Group and Essent Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seibels Bruce Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Essent Group	1	4	4	0	2.33

Essent Group has a consensus price target of $65.67, suggesting a potential upside of 11.77%. Given Essent Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Essent Group is more favorable than Seibels Bruce Group.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.0% of Essent Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 55.4% of Seibels Bruce Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Essent Group shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Seibels Bruce Group and Essent Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seibels Bruce Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Essent Group	56.36%	12.66%	9.98%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Seibels Bruce Group and Essent Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Seibels Bruce Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Essent Group	$1.24 billion	4.66	$729.40 million	$6.85	8.58

Essent Group has higher revenue and earnings than Seibels Bruce Group.

Summary

Essent Group beats Seibels Bruce Group on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Seibels Bruce Group

The Seibels Bruce Group, Inc. provides processing, technology, and claims solutions to the property and casualty insurance industry. The company offers processing solutions for coastal markets; business process outsourcing; claims administration solutions; information technology outsourcing; and professional services. It also provides technology solutions, such as IPX enterprise insurance suite, CPX claims management system, FNOL first notice of loss, and reinspection processing xpert solutions; and claims solutions, including third party administration, catastrophe management, first notice of loss, multi-line adjusting and examination, reinspection, and subrogation/salvage services. The company was founded in 1869 and is based in Columbia, South Carolina.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services. It serves the originators of residential mortgage loans, such as regulated depository institutions, mortgage banks, credit unions, and other lenders. Essent Group Ltd. was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.