Financial Survey: Loews (NYSE:L) and SelectQuote (NYSE:SLQT)

Loews (NYSE:L) and SelectQuote (NYSE:SLQT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

58.3% of Loews shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.6% of SelectQuote shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of Loews shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.1% of SelectQuote shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Loews and SelectQuote”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Loews	$18.45 billion	1.19	$1.67 billion	$7.87	13.58
SelectQuote	$1.53 billion	0.12	$47.58 million	$0.09	11.28

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Loews and SelectQuote, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loews	0	0	0	1	4.00
SelectQuote	1	1	0	2	2.75

SelectQuote has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 195.57%. Given SelectQuote’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SelectQuote is more favorable than Loews.

Volatility and Risk

Loews has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SelectQuote has a beta of 1.62, indicating that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Loews and SelectQuote’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loews	8.83%	8.51%	1.91%
SelectQuote	5.60%	20.49%	5.58%

Summary

Loews beats SelectQuote on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Loews

Loews Corporation provides commercial property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. The company offers specialty insurance products, such as management and professional liability, and other coverage products; surety and fidelity bonds; property insurance products that include standard and excess property, marine and boiler, and machinery coverages; and casualty insurance products, such as workers' compensation, general and product liability, and commercial auto, surplus, and umbrella coverages. It also provides loss-sensitive insurance programs; and warranty, risk management, information, and claims administration services. The company markets its insurance products and services through independent agents, brokers, and managing general underwriters. In addition, the company is involved in the transportation and storage of natural gas and natural gas liquids, and hydrocarbons through natural gas pipelines covering approximately 13,455 miles of interconnected pipelines; 855 miles of NGL pipelines in Louisiana and Texas; 14 underground storage fields with an aggregate gas capacity of approximately 199.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas; and eleven salt dome caverns and related brine infrastructure for providing brine supply services. Further, the company operates a chain of 25 hotels; and develops, manufactures, and markets a range of extrusion blow-molded and injection molded plastic containers for customers in the pharmaceutical, dairy, household chemicals, food/nutraceuticals, industrial/specialty chemicals, and water and beverage/juice industries, as well as manufactures commodity and differentiated plastic resins from recycled plastic materials. Loews Corporation was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About SelectQuote

SelectQuote, Inc. operates a technology-enabled, direct-to-consumer distribution platform that sells a range of insurance products and healthcare services in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Senior; Life; and Auto & Home. It distributes senior health policies, such as medicare advantage, medicare supplement, medicare part D, and other ancillary senior health insurance related products, including prescription drugs, dental, vision, and hearing plans; life insurance products, such as term life, final expense, and other ancillary products, including critical illness, accidental death, and juvenile insurance; homeowners, auto, dwelling fire, and other ancillary insurance products; and non-commercial auto and home property, and casualty policies. The company also provides SelectRx, an accredited patient-centered pharmacy home pharmacy, which offers essential prescription medications, OTC medications, customized medication packaging, medication therapy management, and long-term pharmacy care; and population health that helps members understand the benefits available under their health plans, and contracts with insurance carriers. SelectQuote, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.