Reviewing Loews (NYSE:L) & Ageas (OTCMKTS:AGESY)

Loews (NYSE:L) and Ageas (OTCMKTS:AGESY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Loews and Ageas, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loews	0	0	0	1	4.00
Ageas	0	1	1	0	2.50

Volatility & Risk

Loews has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ageas has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Loews and Ageas”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Loews	$18.18 billion	1.26	$1.67 billion	$7.98	13.90
Ageas	$14.68 billion	1.02	$1.21 billion	N/A	N/A

Loews has higher revenue and earnings than Ageas.

Dividends

Loews pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Ageas pays an annual dividend of $2.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Loews pays out 3.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Loews and Ageas’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loews	9.03%	8.86%	1.96%
Ageas	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

58.3% of Loews shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.0% of Loews shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Loews beats Ageas on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Loews

Loews Corporation provides commercial property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. The company offers specialty insurance products, such as management and professional liability, and other coverage products; surety and fidelity bonds; property insurance products that include standard and excess property, marine and boiler, and machinery coverages; and casualty insurance products, such as workers' compensation, general and product liability, and commercial auto, surplus, and umbrella coverages. It also provides loss-sensitive insurance programs; and warranty, risk management, information, and claims administration services. The company markets its insurance products and services through independent agents, brokers, and managing general underwriters. In addition, the company is involved in the transportation and storage of natural gas and natural gas liquids, and hydrocarbons through natural gas pipelines covering approximately 13,455 miles of interconnected pipelines; 855 miles of NGL pipelines in Louisiana and Texas; 14 underground storage fields with an aggregate gas capacity of approximately 199.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas; and eleven salt dome caverns and related brine infrastructure for providing brine supply services. Further, the company operates a chain of 25 hotels; and develops, manufactures, and markets a range of extrusion blow-molded and injection molded plastic containers for customers in the pharmaceutical, dairy, household chemicals, food/nutraceuticals, industrial/specialty chemicals, and water and beverage/juice industries, as well as manufactures commodity and differentiated plastic resins from recycled plastic materials. Loews Corporation was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Ageas

ageas SA/NV, together with its subsidiaries, engages in insurance business. It operates in five segments: Belgium, Europe, Asia, Reinsurance, and General Account. The company offers property, casualty, and life insurance products, as well as pension products; and reinsurance products. It provides life insurance products include risks related to the life and death of individuals; and non-life insurance products comprise accident and health, motor, fire, and other property insurance products, as well as insurance services for other damages to property. The company serves private individuals, as well as small, medium-sized, and large companies through independent brokers and the bank channels. ageas SA/NV was founded in 1824 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.