Essent Group (ESNT) Competitors

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) and Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment and valuation.

Which has more risk and volatility, ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ryan Specialty has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group received 407 more outperform votes than Ryan Specialty when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.63% of users gave Essent Group an outperform vote while only 43.18% of users gave Ryan Specialty an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Essent Group	Outperform Votes 445 65.63%	Underperform Votes 233 34.37%
Ryan Specialty	Outperform Votes 38 43.18%	Underperform Votes 50 56.82%

Does the media prefer ESNT or RYAN?

In the previous week, Essent Group had 2 more articles in the media than Ryan Specialty. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Essent Group and 13 mentions for Ryan Specialty. Ryan Specialty's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Essent Group's score of 1.15 indicating that Ryan Specialty is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Essent Group	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ryan Specialty	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is ESNT or RYAN more profitable?

Essent Group has a net margin of 58.69% compared to Ryan Specialty's net margin of 9.14%. Ryan Specialty's return on equity of 48.01% beat Essent Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essent Group	58.69%	13.35%	10.61%
Ryan Specialty	9.14%	48.01%	6.33%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in ESNT or RYAN?

93.0% of Essent Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Ryan Specialty shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Essent Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Ryan Specialty shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group currently has a consensus target price of $61.71, indicating a potential upside of 11.00%. Ryan Specialty has a consensus target price of $75.67, indicating a potential upside of 9.06%. Given Essent Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Essent Group is more favorable than Ryan Specialty.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essent Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
Ryan Specialty	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ryan Specialty. Essent Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ryan Specialty, 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
Essent Group	$1.27B	4.56	$729.40M	$6.84	8.13
Ryan Specialty	$2.52B	7.22	$61.04M	$0.69	100.55

Is ESNT or RYAN a better dividend stock?

Essent Group pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Ryan Specialty pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Essent Group pays out 18.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ryan Specialty pays out 69.6% 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. Essent Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Essent Group beats Ryan Specialty on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.