AMERISAFE (AMSF) Competitors

AMERISAFE (NASDAQ:AMSF) and Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, profitability, risk and dividends.

Which has better valuation & earnings, AMSF or MCY?

Mercury General has higher revenue and earnings than AMERISAFE. Mercury General is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AMERISAFE, 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
AMERISAFE	$306.85M	3.07	$62.11M	$3.20	15.45
Mercury General	$5.48B	0.53	$467.95M	$8.45	6.18

Which has more risk & volatility, AMSF or MCY?

AMERISAFE has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercury General has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend AMSF or MCY?

AMERISAFE currently has a consensus price target of $59.50, suggesting a potential upside of 20.34%. Mercury General has a consensus price target of $80.00, suggesting a potential upside of 53.13%. Given Mercury General's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Mercury General is more favorable than AMERISAFE.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AMERISAFE	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Mercury General	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AMSF or MCY?

Mercury General received 22 more outperform votes than AMERISAFE when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.93% of users gave AMERISAFE an outperform vote while only 51.13% of users gave Mercury General an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AMERISAFE	Outperform Votes 226 56.93%	Underperform Votes 171 43.07%
Mercury General	Outperform Votes 248 51.13%	Underperform Votes 237 48.87%

Is AMSF or MCY more profitable?

AMERISAFE has a net margin of 19.49% compared to Mercury General's net margin of 8.55%. Mercury General's return on equity of 22.54% beat AMERISAFE's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AMERISAFE	19.49%	16.50%	4.02%
Mercury General	8.55%	22.54%	5.04%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in AMSF or MCY?

97.4% of AMERISAFE shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.4% of Mercury General shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of AMERISAFE shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 35.5% of Mercury General shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to AMSF or MCY?

In the previous week, Mercury General had 4 more articles in the media than AMERISAFE. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Mercury General and 1 mentions for AMERISAFE. Mercury General's average media sentiment score of 0.44 beat AMERISAFE's score of 0.00 indicating that Mercury General is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AMERISAFE	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Mercury General	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is AMSF or MCY a better dividend stock?

AMERISAFE pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Mercury General pays an annual dividend of $1.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. AMERISAFE pays out 46.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mercury General pays out 15.0% 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. AMERISAFE has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. AMERISAFE is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Mercury General beats AMERISAFE on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.