AIFU (NASDAQ:AIFU) & Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) Head-To-Head Comparison

AIFU (NASDAQ:AIFU) and Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares AIFU and Principal Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AIFU	N/A	N/A	N/A
Principal Financial Group	7.58%	16.09%	0.57%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for AIFU and Principal Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AIFU	1	0	0	0	1.00
Principal Financial Group	1	7	2	0	2.10

Principal Financial Group has a consensus target price of $94.22, suggesting a potential upside of 6.79%. Given Principal Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Principal Financial Group is more favorable than AIFU.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.7% of AIFU shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Principal Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.6% of AIFU shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Principal Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

AIFU has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Principal Financial Group has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AIFU and Principal Financial Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AIFU	$247.81 million	0.02	$62.33 million	$14.60	0.09
Principal Financial Group	$15.63 billion	1.22	$1.19 billion	$5.27	16.74

Principal Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than AIFU. AIFU is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Principal Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Principal Financial Group beats AIFU on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AIFU

AIX, Inc. engages in the provision of agency services and insurance claims adjusting services. It operates through the Insurance Agency and Claims Adjusting segments. The Insurance Agency segment includes providing agency services for insurance products and life insurance products. The Claims Adjusting segment provides pre-underwriting survey services, claims adjusting services, disposal of residual value services, loading and unloading supervision services, and consulting services. The company was founded by Yin An Hu and Qiu Ping Lai in 1998 and is headquartered in Guangzhou, China.

About Principal Financial Group

Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Global Investors, Principal International, and U.S. Insurance Solutions segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides a portfolio of asset accumulation products and services for retirement savings and income. It offers products and services for defined contribution plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, defined benefit pension plans, nonqualified executive benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, equity compensation, and pension risk transfer services; individual retirement accounts; investment only products; and mutual funds, individual variable annuities, and bank products. The Principal Global Investors segment provides equity, fixed income, real estate, and other alternative investments, as well as asset allocation, stable value management, and other structured investment strategies. The Principal International segment offers pension accumulation products and services, mutual funds, asset management, income annuities, and life insurance accumulation products, as well as voluntary savings plans in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, India, and Southeast Asia. The U.S. Insurance Solutions segment provides specialty benefits, such as group dental and vision insurance, group life insurance, and group and individual disability insurance, as well as administers group dental, disability, and vision benefits; and individual life insurance products comprising universal, variable universal, indexed universal, and term life insurance products in the United States. It also offers insurance solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and their owners, as well as executives. Principal Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1879 and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.