Head to Head Survey: MBIA (NYSE:MBI) versus White Mountains Insurance Group (NYSE:WTM)

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

Risk & Volatility

White Mountains Insurance Group has a beta of 0.28, suggesting that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MBIA has a beta of 1.7, suggesting that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares White Mountains Insurance Group and MBIA”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
White Mountains Insurance Group	$3.73 billion	1.44	$1.11 billion	$439.40	5.11
MBIA	$80.00 million	2.93	-$177.00 million	($2.89)	-1.59

White Mountains Insurance Group has higher revenue and earnings than MBIA. MBIA 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
White Mountains Insurance Group	29.29%	5.11%	2.37%
MBIA	-154.26%	N/A	-1.69%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for White Mountains Insurance Group and MBIA, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
White Mountains Insurance Group	0	1	1	0	2.50
MBIA	1	0	1	0	2.00

MBIA has a consensus price target of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 52.07%. Given MBIA’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe MBIA is more favorable than White Mountains Insurance Group.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

88.7% of White Mountains Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.0% of MBIA shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of White Mountains Insurance Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.3% of MBIA shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

White Mountains Insurance Group beats MBIA on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About MBIA

MBIA Inc. provides financial guarantee insurance services to public finance markets in the United States. It operates United States (U.S.) Public Finance Insurance, and International and Structured Finance Insurance segments. The company issues financial guarantees for municipal bonds, including tax-exempt and taxable indebtedness of the U.S. political subdivisions, as well as utility districts, airports, health care institutions, higher educational facilities, housing authorities, and other similar agencies and obligations issued by private entities. It also insures the non-U.S. public finance and global structured finance, including asset-backed obligations; and sovereign-related and sub-sovereign bonds, and privately issued bonds used for the financing for utilities, toll roads, bridges, public transportation facilities, and other types of infrastructure projects, as well as offers third-party reinsurance services. MBIA Inc. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.