Comparing MetLife (NYSE:MET) & World Access (OTCMKTS:WAXS)

World Access (OTCMKTS:WAXS) and MetLife (NYSE:MET) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares World Access and MetLife’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
World Access	N/A	N/A	N/A
MetLife	4.38%	21.81%	0.87%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for World Access and MetLife, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
World Access	0	0	0	0	0.00
MetLife	0	3	8	2	2.92

MetLife has a consensus target price of $93.42, suggesting a potential upside of 34.18%. Given MetLife’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe MetLife is more favorable than World Access.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.0% of MetLife shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.4% of World Access shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of MetLife 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares World Access and MetLife”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
World Access	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
MetLife	$77.08 billion	0.59	$3.38 billion	$4.70	14.81

MetLife has higher revenue and earnings than World Access.

Summary

MetLife beats World Access on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About World Access

World Access, Inc. operates as a global services company providing solutions in customer care to organizations in the travel, financial, health care, and call center industries. It consists of three full service companies and three specialized services companies. World Access Service Corporation serves companies located in the US and companies that have travelers or employees visiting North America. World Access Canada serves companies located in Canada; and World Access Asia serves companies located in eastern Asia, including Japan. World Access Europe provides members of World Access with logistical and medical support throughout the region. Other companies include World Access Provider Network Services; and World Access Transport Services that manages and coordinates all medical evacuation and repatriation activities for World Access. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia. In April 2001, the company filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court on behalf of itself and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc., a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements. It also provides pension risk transfers, institutional income annuities, structured settlements, and capital markets investment products; and other products and services, such as life insurance products and funding agreements for funding postretirement benefits, as well as company, bank, or trust-owned life insurance used to finance nonqualified benefit programs for executives. In addition, it provides fixed, indexed-linked, and variable annuities; pension products; regular savings products; whole and term life, endowments, universal and variable life, and group life products; longevity reinsurance solutions; credit insurance products; and protection against long-term health care services. MetLife, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is based in New York, New York.