United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS – Get Free Report) and NMI (NASDAQ:NMIH – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.
Risk & Volatility
United Fire Group has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NMI has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for United Fire Group and NMI, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| United Fire Group | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.75 |
| NMI | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2.80 |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
62.7% of United Fire Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.1% of NMI shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of United Fire Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of NMI shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares United Fire Group and NMI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| United Fire Group | 9.16% | 14.65% | 3.51% |
| NMI | 53.82% | 15.18% | 10.23% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares United Fire Group and NMI”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| United Fire Group | $1.43 billion | 0.87 | $118.19 million | $4.96 | 9.72 |
| NMI | $706.44 million | 4.18 | $388.93 million | $4.91 | 7.92 |
NMI has lower revenue, but higher earnings than United Fire Group. NMI is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Fire Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
NMI beats United Fire Group on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About United Fire Group
United Fire Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products. The company sells its products through a network of independent agencies. United Fire Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
About NMI
NMI Holdings, Inc. provides private mortgage guaranty insurance services in the United States. The company offers mortgage insurance services, such as primary and pool insurance; and outsourced loan review services to mortgage loan originators. It serves national and regional mortgage banks, money center banks, credit unions, community banks, builder-owned mortgage lenders, internet-sourced lenders, and other non-bank lenders. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.
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