Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) Competitors

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Do analysts rate PGR or BRK.B?

Progressive currently has a consensus price target of $281.06, suggesting a potential downside of 0.11%. Berkshire Hathaway has a consensus price target of $520.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.44%. Given Progressive's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Progressive is more favorable than Berkshire Hathaway.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Progressive	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Berkshire Hathaway	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PGR or BRK.B?

Progressive received 337 more outperform votes than Berkshire Hathaway when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.58% of users gave Berkshire Hathaway an outperform vote while only 54.63% of users gave Progressive an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Progressive	Outperform Votes 608 54.63%	Underperform Votes 505 45.37%
Berkshire Hathaway	Outperform Votes 271 67.58%	Underperform Votes 130 32.42%

Does the media prefer PGR or BRK.B?

In the previous week, Progressive had 32 more articles in the media than Berkshire Hathaway. MarketBeat recorded 51 mentions for Progressive and 19 mentions for Berkshire Hathaway. Progressive's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat Berkshire Hathaway's score of 0.24 indicating that Progressive is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Progressive	46 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Berkshire Hathaway	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, PGR or BRK.B?

Progressive has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Berkshire Hathaway has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, PGR or BRK.B?

Berkshire Hathaway has higher revenue and earnings than Progressive. Berkshire Hathaway is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Progressive, 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
Progressive	$75.34B	2.19	$8.48B	$14.40	19.54
Berkshire Hathaway	$424.23B	2.74	$96.22B	$41.27	13.05

Is PGR or BRK.B more profitable?

Berkshire Hathaway has a net margin of 28.89% compared to Progressive's net margin of 11.25%. Progressive's return on equity of 33.79% beat Berkshire Hathaway's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Progressive	11.25%	33.79%	8.21%
Berkshire Hathaway	28.89%	6.94%	3.77%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in PGR or BRK.B?

85.3% of Progressive shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.3% of Berkshire Hathaway shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Progressive shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of Berkshire Hathaway shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Progressive beats Berkshire Hathaway on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.