Comparing Vericity (VERY) and The Competition

Vericity (NASDAQ:VERY) is one of 42 public companies in the “Life insurance” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Vericity to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Vericity and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vericity	-5.57%	-9.13%	-1.23%
Vericity Competitors	6.56%	12.95%	1.03%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Vericity and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vericity	0	0	0	0	N/A
Vericity Competitors	359	2374	2037	73	2.38

As a group, “Life insurance” companies have a potential upside of 58.49%. Given Vericity’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vericity has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Vericity and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vericity	$177.57 million	-$9.89 million	-16.74
Vericity Competitors	$20.65 billion	$1.26 billion	-22,159.75

Vericity’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Vericity. Vericity is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.9% of Vericity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 10.4% of Vericity shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.3% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Vericity has a beta of 0.14, indicating that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericity’s competitors have a beta of 0.82, indicating that their average stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Vericity competitors beat Vericity on 9 of the 10 factors compared.

Vericity Company Profile

Vericity, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides life insurance protection products for the middle American market. The company operates through Agency and Insurance segments. The Agency segment sells life insurance products for unaffiliated insurance companies through its call center distribution platform, as well as through its independent agents and other marketing organizations. This segment is also involved in the insurance lead sale activities through its eCoverage web presence. The Insurance segment provides term life, accidental death, and final expense products. Vericity, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois.