Mercury General (NYSE:MCY – Get Free Report) and MBIA (NYSE:MBI – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Mercury General and MBIA, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Mercury General | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.50 |
| MBIA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
MBIA has a consensus price target of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 59.13%. Given MBIA’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MBIA is more favorable than Mercury General.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
Volatility & Risk
Mercury General has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MBIA has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Mercury General and MBIA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Mercury General | 14.77% | 31.98% | 8.19% |
| MBIA | -154.26% | N/A | -1.69% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Mercury General and MBIA”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Mercury General | $5.99 billion | 0.92 | $541.09 million | $16.92 | 5.89 |
| MBIA | $80.00 million | 2.80 | -$177.00 million | ($2.89) | -1.52 |
Mercury General has higher revenue and earnings than MBIA. MBIA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mercury General, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Mercury General beats MBIA on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Mercury General
Mercury General Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in writing personal automobile insurance in the United States. The company also writes homeowners, commercial automobile, commercial property, mechanical protection, and umbrella insurance products. Its automobile insurance products include collision, property damage, bodily injury, comprehensive, personal injury protection, underinsured and uninsured motorist, and other hazards; and homeowners insurance products comprise dwelling, liability, personal property, and other coverages. The company sells its policies through a network of independent agents, insurance agencies, as well as directly through internet sales portals in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Mercury General Corporation was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
About MBIA
MBIA Inc. provides financial guarantee insurance services to public finance markets in the United States. It operates United States (U.S.) Public Finance Insurance, and International and Structured Finance Insurance segments. The company issues financial guarantees for municipal bonds, including tax-exempt and taxable indebtedness of the U.S. political subdivisions, as well as utility districts, airports, health care institutions, higher educational facilities, housing authorities, and other similar agencies and obligations issued by private entities. It also insures the non-U.S. public finance and global structured finance, including asset-backed obligations; and sovereign-related and sub-sovereign bonds, and privately issued bonds used for the financing for utilities, toll roads, bridges, public transportation facilities, and other types of infrastructure projects, as well as offers third-party reinsurance services. MBIA Inc. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.
Receive News & Ratings for Mercury General Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mercury General and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
