Comparing Loews (NYSE:L) & Everest Group (NYSE:EG)

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

Risk and Volatility

Loews has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Everest Group has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Loews and Everest Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loews	9.27%	9.45%	1.93%
Everest Group	18.69%	24.86%	6.36%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.3% of Loews shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of Everest Group shares are held by institutional investors. 18.7% of Loews shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Everest Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Loews and Everest Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loews	0	0	1	0	3.00
Everest Group	0	3	3	1	2.71

Loews currently has a consensus target price of $170.00, indicating a potential upside of 127.46%. Everest Group has a consensus target price of $432.11, indicating a potential upside of 13.41%. Given Loews’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Loews is more favorable than Everest Group.

Dividends

Loews pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Everest Group pays an annual dividend of $8.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Loews pays out 3.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Everest Group pays out 11.9% 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Loews and Everest Group’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Loews	$15.90 billion	1.04	$1.43 billion	$6.74	11.09
Everest Group	$14.59 billion	1.14	$2.52 billion	$67.29	5.66

Everest Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Loews. Everest Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Loews, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Everest Group beats Loews on 10 of the 17 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 Everest Group

Everest Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segment, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Reinsurance segment writes property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines of business through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies in the United States, Bermuda, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The Insurance Operations segment writes property and casualty insurance directly, as well as through brokers, surplus lines, and general agents in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, Europe, South America, Singapore, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The company also provides treaty and facultative reinsurance products; admitted and non-admitted insurance products; and accident and health, specialty underwriters, eversports and entertainment, and surety and credit, marine and aviation, as well as structured and property hybrid solutions. In addition, it offers commercial property and casualty insurance products through wholesale and retail brokers, surplus lines brokers, and program administrators. The company was formerly known as Everest Re Group, Ltd. and changed its name to Everest Group, Ltd. in July 2023.Everest Group, Ltd., was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.