Analyzing Old Republic International (ORI) and Its Rivals

Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) is one of 311 public companies in the “Insurance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Old Republic International to similar businesses based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Old Republic International and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Old Republic International	0	2	2	0	2.50
Old Republic International Competitors	3330	15664	16516	740	2.40

Old Republic International currently has a consensus target price of $43.50, indicating a potential upside of 9.39%. As a group, “Insurance” companies have a potential upside of 5.55%. Given Old Republic International’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Old Republic International is more favorable than its competitors.

Risk and Volatility

Old Republic International has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Old Republic International’s competitors have a beta of -1.59, indicating that their average share price is 259% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Old Republic International pays an annual dividend of $1.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Old Republic International pays out 28.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Insurance” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.9% and pay out 30.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Old Republic International has raised its dividend for 45 consecutive years. Old Republic International is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Old Republic International and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Old Republic International	11.19%	12.13%	2.36%
Old Republic International Competitors	9.05%	-9.83%	4.11%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.9% of Old Republic International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.9% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Old Republic International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.6% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Old Republic International and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Old Republic International	$9.72 billion	$935.40 million	8.96
Old Republic International Competitors	$15.63 billion	$1.70 billion	34.69

Old Republic International’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Old Republic International. Old Republic International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Old Republic International beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Old Republic International

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance underwriting and related services business primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: General Insurance, Title Insurance, and Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business. The General Insurance segment offers aviation, commercial auto, commercial multi-peril, commercial property, general liability, home and auto warranty, inland marine, travel accident, and workers' compensation insurance products; and financial indemnity products for specialty coverages, including errors and omissions, fidelity, directors and officers, and surety. This segment provides its insurance products to businesses, state and local government, and other institutions in transportation, commercial construction, healthcare, education, retail and wholesale trade, forest products, energy, general manufacturing, and financial services industries. The Title Insurance segment offers lenders' and owners' policies to real estate purchasers and investors based upon searches of the public records. This segment also provides escrow closing and construction disbursement services; and real estate information products, national default management services, and various other services pertaining to real estate transfers and loan transactions. The Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business segment offers private mortgage insurance coverage that protects mortgage lenders and investors from default related losses on residential mortgage loans made primarily to homebuyers. Old Republic International Corporation was founded in 1923 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.