National Interstate (NATL) Competitors

National Interstate (NASDAQ:NATL) and AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is NATL or AXS more profitable?

AXIS Capital has a net margin of 18.16% compared to National Interstate's net margin of -2.69%. National Interstate's return on equity of 59.25% beat AXIS Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Interstate	-2.69%	59.25%	2.80%
AXIS Capital	18.16%	18.89%	3.05%

Which has more risk and volatility, NATL or AXS?

National Interstate has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AXIS Capital has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in NATL or AXS?

88.7% of National Interstate shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.4% of AXIS Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of National Interstate shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of AXIS Capital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer NATL or AXS?

National Interstate presently has a consensus price target of $42.25, indicating a potential upside of 43.21%. AXIS Capital has a consensus price target of $99.88, indicating a potential upside of 8.69%. Given National Interstate's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe National Interstate is more favorable than AXIS Capital.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Interstate	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
AXIS Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Which has higher earnings and valuation, NATL or AXS?

AXIS Capital has higher revenue and earnings than National Interstate. National Interstate is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AXIS Capital, 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
National Interstate	$4.19B	0.51	-$134M	-$1.68	-17.56
AXIS Capital	$6.01B	1.28	$1.08B	$12.35	7.44

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NATL or AXS?

AXIS Capital received 250 more outperform votes than National Interstate when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.82% of users gave National Interstate an outperform vote while only 54.66% of users gave AXIS Capital an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
National Interstate	Outperform Votes 125 56.82%	Underperform Votes 95 43.18%
AXIS Capital	Outperform Votes 375 54.66%	Underperform Votes 311 45.34%

Does the media refer more to NATL or AXS?

In the previous week, AXIS Capital had 16 more articles in the media than National Interstate. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for AXIS Capital and 0 mentions for National Interstate. AXIS Capital's average media sentiment score of 0.56 beat National Interstate's score of 0.00 indicating that AXIS Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
National Interstate	Neutral
AXIS Capital	Positive

Summary

AXIS Capital beats National Interstate on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.