Financial Contrast: Fidelis Insurance (NYSE:FIHL) and CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO)

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

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fidelis Insurance	$2.50 billion	0.81	$225.50 million	$2.21	9.49
CNO Financial Group	$4.49 billion	0.91	$229.30 million	$2.23	19.61

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.0% of Fidelis Insurance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Fidelis Insurance has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fidelis Insurance	9.02%	8.62%	1.62%
CNO Financial Group	4.94%	15.80%	1.07%

Dividends

Fidelis Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Fidelis Insurance pays out 27.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CNO Financial Group pays out 30.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CNO Financial Group has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Fidelis Insurance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Fidelis Insurance and CNO Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fidelis Insurance	2	3	5	0	2.30
CNO Financial Group	1	1	3	0	2.40

Fidelis Insurance presently has a consensus price target of $22.64, suggesting a potential upside of 7.94%. CNO Financial Group has a consensus price target of $46.50, suggesting a potential upside of 6.34%. Given Fidelis Insurance’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Fidelis Insurance is more favorable than CNO Financial Group.

Summary

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

About Fidelis Insurance

Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited, a specialty insurer, provides insurance and reinsurance solutions in Bermuda, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It operates in three segments: Specialty, Reinsurance, and Bespoke segments. The Specialty segment offers aviation and aerospace, energy, marine, property direct and facultative, and other specialty risk solutions. The Reinsurance segment provides property, retrocession, and whole account reinsurance solutions. The Bespoke segment offers customized risk solutions for clients that include credit and political risk, as well as other risk transfer opportunities, including political violence and terrorism, limited cyber reinsurance, tax liabilities, title, transactional liabilities, and other bespoke solutions. Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.

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.