Critical Comparison: Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) and White Mountains Insurance Group (NYSE:WTM)

Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) and White Mountains Insurance Group (NYSE:WTM) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of Sampo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of White Mountains Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of White Mountains Insurance Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Sampo and White Mountains Insurance Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sampo	0	1	0	1	3.00
White Mountains Insurance Group	0	0	1	0	3.00

Profitability

This table compares Sampo and White Mountains Insurance Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sampo	N/A	19.63%	5.56%
White Mountains Insurance Group	8.34%	9.17%	4.44%

Dividends

Sampo pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. White Mountains Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Sampo pays out 30.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. White Mountains Insurance Group pays out 1.3% 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sampo and White Mountains Insurance Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sampo	$2.47 billion	48.99	$1.25 billion	$1.01	22.25
White Mountains Insurance Group	$2.58 billion	1.89	$230.40 million	$79.84	23.77

Sampo has higher earnings, but lower revenue than White Mountains Insurance Group. Sampo is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than White Mountains Insurance Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Sampo has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, White Mountains Insurance Group has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

White Mountains Insurance Group beats Sampo on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sampo

Sampo Oyj, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of non-life insurance products and services in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through If, Topdanmark, Hastings, Mandatum, and Holding segments. It offers property, casualty, liability, accident, sickness, household, homeowner, motor, travel, marine, aviation, transport, forest, livestock, health, workers compensation, car, van, and bike insurance services, as well as reinsurance services. The company was founded in 1909 and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

About White Mountains Insurance Group

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance and other financial services in the United States. The company operates through HG Global/BAM, Ark/WM Outrigger, Kudu, and Other Operations segments. The HG Global/BAM segment provides insurance on municipal bonds issued to finance public purposes, such as schools, utilities, and transportation facilities, as well as reinsurance protection services. The Ark/WM Outrigger segment offers reinsurance and insurance, including property, marine and energy, accident and health, casualty, and specialty products. The Kudu segment provides capital solutions to boutique asset and wealth managers for generational ownership transfers, management buyouts, acquisitions and growth finances, and legacy partner liquidity, as well as strategic assistance to investees. The Other Operations segment offers insurance solutions to travel industry through broker channel and on a direct-to-consumer basis; and manages separate accounts and pooled investment vehicles for insurance-linked securities sectors, including catastrophe bonds, collateralized reinsurance investments, and industry loss warranties of third-party clients. White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.