James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR – Get Free Report) and MBIA (NYSE:MBI – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.
Volatility and Risk
James River Group has a beta of 0.01, suggesting that its share price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MBIA has a beta of 1.89, suggesting that its share price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for James River Group and MBIA, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| James River Group | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2.29 |
| MBIA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares James River Group and MBIA”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| James River Group | $707.63 million | 0.42 | -$81.12 million | ($2.08) | -3.07 |
| MBIA | $89.00 million | 4.03 | -$444.00 million | ($3.64) | -1.95 |
James River Group has higher revenue and earnings than MBIA. James River Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MBIA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares James River Group and MBIA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| James River Group | -7.64% | 7.11% | 0.69% |
| MBIA | -198.88% | N/A | -2.12% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
95.2% of James River Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.0% of MBIA shares are held by institutional investors. 33.8% of James River Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.6% of MBIA shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
James River Group beats MBIA on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About James River Group
James River Group Holdings, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance services. It operates through Excess and Surplus Lines, and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites liability and property insurance in the United States Puerto Rice, and the United States Virgin Islands. This segment distributes its insurance policies primarily through wholesale insurance brokers. The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment provides insurance for fronting, program administrators, managing general agents, and independent retail agents. James River Group Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.
About MBIA
MBIA Inc. provides financial guarantee insurance services to public finance markets in the United States. It operates United States (U.S.) Public Finance Insurance, and International and Structured Finance Insurance segments. The company issues financial guarantees for municipal bonds, including tax-exempt and taxable indebtedness of the U.S. political subdivisions, as well as utility districts, airports, health care institutions, higher educational facilities, housing authorities, and other similar agencies and obligations issued by private entities. It also insures the non-U.S. public finance and global structured finance, including asset-backed obligations; and sovereign-related and sub-sovereign bonds, and privately issued bonds used for the financing for utilities, toll roads, bridges, public transportation facilities, and other types of infrastructure projects, as well as offers third-party reinsurance services. MBIA Inc. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.
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