Head to Head Review: AA (OTCMKTS:AATDF) & Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG)

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.1% of Principal Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Principal Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AA	N/A	N/A	N/A
Principal Financial Group	10.10%	16.25%	0.57%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AA and Principal Financial Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Principal Financial Group	$15.46 billion	1.47	$1.19 billion	$6.99	15.03

Principal Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than AA.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for AA and Principal Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AA	0	0	0	0	0.00
Principal Financial Group	1	7	3	0	2.18

Principal Financial Group has a consensus price target of $98.10, suggesting a potential downside of 6.60%. Given Principal Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Principal Financial Group is more favorable than AA.

Summary

Principal Financial Group beats AA on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AA

AA plc provides roadside assistance, insurance, and driving services in the United Kingdom. It operates through two segments, Roadside and Insurance. The company offers breakdowns cover for cars, motorcycles, caravans, vans, and towing; car, motorbike, van, and caravan insurance; and loans, savings, mortgage, travel currency card, insurance, and credit card products. It also provides home, content, building, pet, and holiday home insurance products; and travel services. In addition, the company offers driving advisory services, such as child safety, fuel and environment, legal advisory, service and repair, safety, security, and driving cost and other services; car and MOT services; and financial services, such as personal loans, car loans, home improvement loans, debt consolidation loans, wedding loans, loan management, savings, credit cards, and online security services, as well as reinsurance services. It serves fleet and leasing companies. The company was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Basingstoke, the United Kingdom.

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.