Beazley (BEZ) Competitors

Beazley (LON:BEZ) and Lancashire (LON:LRE) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, profitability, community ranking, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk & volatility, BEZ or LRE?

Beazley has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lancashire has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of BEZ or LRE?

72.5% of Beazley shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.5% of Lancashire shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Beazley shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Lancashire shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, BEZ or LRE?

Beazley has higher revenue and earnings than Lancashire. Beazley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lancashire, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Beazley	£6.57B	1.06	£1.50B	£159.74	5.69
Lancashire	£536.12M	3.31	£199.02M	£52.49	11.22

Does the media prefer BEZ or LRE?

In the previous week, Beazley had 2 more articles in the media than Lancashire. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Beazley and 0 mentions for Lancashire. Beazley's average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat Lancashire's score of 0.00 indicating that Beazley is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Beazley	Neutral
Lancashire	Neutral

Do analysts rate BEZ or LRE?

Beazley currently has a consensus price target of GBX 943, indicating a potential upside of 3.74%. Lancashire has a consensus price target of GBX 788.75, indicating a potential upside of 33.91%. Given Lancashire's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lancashire is more favorable than Beazley.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Beazley	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Lancashire	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Is BEZ or LRE more profitable?

Lancashire has a net margin of 37.12% compared to Beazley's net margin of 22.82%. Beazley's return on equity of 32.60% beat Lancashire's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Beazley	22.82%	32.60%	9.50%
Lancashire	37.12%	10.76%	6.75%

Is BEZ or LRE a better dividend stock?

Beazley pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Lancashire pays an annual dividend of GBX 18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Beazley pays out 8.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lancashire pays out 34.3% 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer BEZ or LRE?

Beazley received 351 more outperform votes than Lancashire when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.90% of users gave Beazley an outperform vote while only 44.53% of users gave Lancashire an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Beazley	Outperform Votes 685 63.90%	Underperform Votes 387 36.10%
Lancashire	Outperform Votes 334 44.53%	Underperform Votes 416 55.47%

Summary

Beazley beats Lancashire on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.