Critical Survey: Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD) versus Allstate (NYSE:ALL)

Allstate (NYSE:ALL) and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

76.5% of Allstate shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.8% of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Allstate shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Allstate and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Allstate	8.79%	28.74%	5.05%
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group	10.57%	17.30%	3.63%

Volatility and Risk

Allstate has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Allstate and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Allstate	$66.21 billion	0.83	$4.67 billion	$30.89	6.77
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group	$1.15 billion	1.71	$118.83 million	$3.39	14.30

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Allstate and Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Allstate	1	4	11	2	2.78
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group	0	3	10	1	2.86

Allstate currently has a consensus target price of $237.64, indicating a potential upside of 13.68%. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has a consensus target price of $63.50, indicating a potential upside of 30.98%. Given Skyward Specialty Insurance Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Skyward Specialty Insurance Group is more favorable than Allstate.

Summary

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group beats Allstate on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Allstate

The Allstate Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty, and other insurance products in the United States and Canada. It operates in five segments: Allstate Protection; Protection Services; Allstate Health and Benefits; Run-off Property-Liability; and Corporate and Other segments. The Allstate Protection segment offers private passenger auto and homeowners insurance; other personal lines products; and commercial lines products through agents, contact centers, and online. The Protection Services segment provides consumer product protection; protection and insurance products, including vehicle service contracts, guaranteed asset protection, road hazard tire and wheel, and paintless dent repair protection; and roadside assistance, device and mobile data collection services, and analytic solutions using automotive telematics information, as well as identity theft protection and remediation services. This segment also offers its products under various brands, including Allstate Protection Plans, Allstate Dealer Services, Allstate Roadside, Arity, Avail, and Allstate Identity Protection. The Allstate Health and Benefits segment provides life, accident, critical illness, short-term disability, and other health insurance products; stop-loss and fully insured group health products to employers; and short-term medical and medicare supplement insurance to individuals. The Run-off Property-Liability segment offers property and casualty insurance coverage that primarily relates to policies written during the 1960s through the mid-1980s. The Corporate and Other segment provides debt services, as well as non-insurance operations. It sells its products through agents, independent agents, call and contact centers, retailers, direct to consumer, wholesale partners, and affinity groups, as well as through online and mobile applications. The Allstate Corporation was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.

About Skyward Specialty Insurance Group

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc., an insurance holding company, underwrites commercial property and casualty insurance products in the United States. It offers general liability, excess liability, professional liability, commercial auto, group accident and health, property, surety, and workers' compensation insurance products. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.