CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) & Sompo (OTCMKTS:SMPNY) Head to Head Review

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) and Sompo (OTCMKTS:SMPNY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for CNO Financial Group and Sompo, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CNO Financial Group	1	1	3	0	2.40
Sompo	0	0	0	0	0.00

CNO Financial Group currently has a consensus price target of $46.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.05%. Given CNO Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe CNO Financial Group is more favorable than Sompo.

Dividends

CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Sompo pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. CNO Financial Group pays out 30.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sompo pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CNO Financial Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. CNO Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CNO Financial Group	4.94%	15.80%	1.07%
Sompo	10.62%	13.26%	3.54%

Volatility and Risk

CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sompo has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CNO Financial Group and Sompo”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CNO Financial Group	$4.49 billion	0.86	$229.30 million	$2.23	18.45
Sompo	$35.81 billion	1.01	$2.79 billion	$2.05	9.43

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

Summary

CNO Financial Group beats Sompo on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. The company also focuses on sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed indexed annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single and flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. It markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

About Sompo

Sompo Holdings, Inc. provides property and casualty (P&C) insurance services in Japan and internationally. The company operates through Domestic P&C Insurance Business, Overseas Insurance Business, Domestic Life Insurance Business, and Nursing Care & Seniors Business segments. It offers various P&C insurance products, including automobile, fire, personal accident, and marine, as well as security, risk management, assistance, and warranty services; and life insurance products. The company also provides nursing care and seniors services; and customer security, health, and wellbeing support services. In addition, it offers asset management services; home remodeling services; and health support services comprising health guidance and employee assistance programs. The company was formerly known as Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Sompo Holdings, Inc. in October 2016. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.