Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) Competitors

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

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

Berkshire Hathaway has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Progressive has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of BRK.B or PGR?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer BRK.B or PGR?

Progressive received 319 more outperform votes than Berkshire Hathaway when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.75% of users gave Berkshire Hathaway an outperform vote while only 54.28% of users gave Progressive an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Berkshire Hathaway	Outperform Votes 271 67.75%	Underperform Votes 129 32.25%
Progressive	Outperform Votes 590 54.28%	Underperform Votes 497 45.72%

Does the media prefer BRK.B or PGR?

In the previous week, Progressive had 38 more articles in the media than Berkshire Hathaway. MarketBeat recorded 52 mentions for Progressive and 14 mentions for Berkshire Hathaway. Progressive's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat Berkshire Hathaway's score of 0.06 indicating that Progressive is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Berkshire Hathaway	3 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Progressive	33 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend BRK.B or PGR?

Berkshire Hathaway currently has a consensus price target of $457.50, suggesting a potential downside of 4.00%. Progressive has a consensus price target of $269.81, suggesting a potential upside of 1.41%. Given Progressive's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Progressive is more favorable than Berkshire Hathaway.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Berkshire Hathaway	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Progressive	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Is BRK.B or PGR more profitable?

Berkshire Hathaway has a net margin of 28.89% compared to Progressive's net margin of 11.27%. Progressive's return on equity of 33.10% beat Berkshire Hathaway's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Berkshire Hathaway	28.89%	6.94%	3.77%
Progressive	11.27%	33.10%	7.90%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, BRK.B or PGR?

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
Berkshire Hathaway	$452.95B	2.27	$96.22B	$49.50	9.63
Progressive	$62.11B	2.51	$3.90B	$13.76	19.34

Summary

Progressive beats Berkshire Hathaway on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.