Head-To-Head Comparison: AXA (OTCMKTS:AXAHY) vs. American International Group (NYSE:AIG)

AXA (OTCMKTS:AXAHY) and American International Group (NYSE:AIG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for AXA and American International Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AXA	0	0	2	0	3.00
American International Group	0	12	7	1	2.45

American International Group has a consensus target price of $86.76, indicating a potential upside of 11.28%. Given American International Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe American International Group is more favorable than AXA.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.1% of AXA shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.6% of American International Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of American International Group 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.

Risk and Volatility

AXA has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American International Group has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

AXA pays an annual dividend of $1.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. American International Group pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. American International Group pays out 33.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American International Group has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares AXA and American International Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AXA	N/A	N/A	N/A
American International Group	11.56%	9.79%	2.48%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares AXA and American International Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AXA	$84.92 billion	1.29	$11.08 billion	N/A	N/A
American International Group	$26.78 billion	1.56	$3.10 billion	$5.42	14.39

AXA has higher revenue and earnings than American International Group.

Summary

American International Group beats AXA on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AXA

AXA SA, through its subsidiaries, provides insurance, asset management, and banking services worldwide. The company operates through six segments: France; Europe; AXA XL; Asia, Africa & EME-LATAM; AXA Investment Managers; and Transversal & Other segments It offers life and savings insurance products, such as savings and retirement, other health, and personal protection products. The company also provides property and casualty insurance products, including car, home, and personal or professional liability to individual and business clients; international insurance for large corporate clients in Europe; and marine and aviation insurance services, as well as property and casualty reinsurance products. In addition, it offers asset management services in the areas of various asset classes, including equities, bonds, hedge funds, private equity, and real estate for the group’s insurance companies and their clients, and retail and institutional clients. Further, the company provides motor, household, property and general liability, health, term life, whole life, universal life, endowment, deferred and immediate annuities, and other investment-based products for personal/individual and commercial/ group customers. AXA SA was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

About American International Group

American International Group, Inc. offers insurance products for commercial, institutional, and individual customers in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: General Insurance, Life and Retirement, and Other Operations. The General Insurance segment provides commercial and industrial property insurance, including business interruption and package insurance that cover exposure to made and natural disasters; general liability, environmental, commercial automobile liability, workers’ compensation, excess casualty, and crisis management insurance products; and professional liability insurance. This segment offers marine, energy-related property insurance, aviation, political risk, trade credit, trade finance, and portfolio solutions, as well as operates reinsurance business; voluntary and sponsor-paid personal accident, and supplemental health products; and personal auto and personal property insurance. Its Life and Retirement segment offers individual retirement products, including variable, fixed index, and fixed annuities, as well as retail mutual funds; group retirement products comprising record-keeping, plan administrative and compliance services, financial planning, and advisory solutions; life insurance, including term and universal life insurance; and institutional markets products, which includes wrap products, structured settlement, pension risk transfer annuities, corporate and bank-owned life insurance, high net worth, and guaranteed investment contract products. It distributes its products through a network of brokers, agents, advisors, banks, and other distributors. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in New York, New York.