First American Financial (FAF) Competitors

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) and First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in WRB or FAF?

68.8% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of First American Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.0% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of First American Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, WRB or FAF?

W. R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than First American Financial. W. R. Berkley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First American Financial, 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
W. R. Berkley	$12.14B	1.87	$1.38B	$3.90	15.26
First American Financial	$6.00B	1.06	$216.80M	$0.89	69.63

Do analysts rate WRB or FAF?

W. R. Berkley currently has a consensus target price of $63.74, suggesting a potential upside of 7.01%. First American Financial has a consensus target price of $73.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.80%. Given First American Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First American Financial is more favorable than W. R. Berkley.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W. R. Berkley	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
First American Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has more risk & volatility, WRB or FAF?

W. R. Berkley has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First American Financial has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to WRB or FAF?

In the previous week, W. R. Berkley had 9 more articles in the media than First American Financial. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for W. R. Berkley and 4 mentions for First American Financial. First American Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat W. R. Berkley's score of 0.49 indicating that First American Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W. R. Berkley	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First American Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WRB or FAF more profitable?

W. R. Berkley has a net margin of 11.96% compared to First American Financial's net margin of 1.58%. W. R. Berkley's return on equity of 20.41% beat First American Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W. R. Berkley	11.96%	20.41%	4.16%
First American Financial	1.58%	7.95%	2.47%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor WRB or FAF?

W. R. Berkley received 51 more outperform votes than First American Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.52% of users gave First American Financial an outperform vote while only 51.31% of users gave W. R. Berkley an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
W. R. Berkley	Outperform Votes 333 51.31%	Underperform Votes 316 48.69%
First American Financial	Outperform Votes 282 60.52%	Underperform Votes 184 39.48%

Is WRB or FAF a better dividend stock?

W. R. Berkley pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. First American Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. W. R. Berkley pays out 8.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First American Financial pays out 242.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. W. R. Berkley has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years and First American Financial has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Summary

W. R. Berkley beats First American Financial on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.