Comparing W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) and Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY)

W.R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) and Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

W.R. Berkley has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sampo has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares W.R. Berkley and Sampo”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
W.R. Berkley	$13.64 billion	1.97	$1.76 billion	$4.39	16.12
Sampo	$2.47 billion	50.26	$1.25 billion	$1.01	22.83

W.R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than Sampo. W.R. Berkley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sampo, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares W.R. Berkley and Sampo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W.R. Berkley	12.32%	18.83%	4.01%
Sampo	N/A	19.63%	5.61%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for W.R. Berkley and Sampo, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W.R. Berkley	1	9	2	1	2.23
Sampo	0	0	0	1	4.00

W.R. Berkley presently has a consensus target price of $72.5385, indicating a potential upside of 2.53%. Given W.R. Berkley’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe W.R. Berkley is more favorable than Sampo.

Dividends

W.R. Berkley pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Sampo pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. W.R. Berkley pays out 8.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sampo pays out 31.7% 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. W.R. Berkley has raised its dividend for 23 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

68.8% of W.R. Berkley shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sampo shares are held by institutional investors. 23.0% of W.R. Berkley shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

W.R. Berkley beats Sampo on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About W.R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines. This segment also provides accident and health insurance and reinsurance products; insurance for commercial risks; casualty and specialty environmental products; specialized insurance coverages for fine arts and jewelry exposures; excess liability and inland marine coverage for small to medium-sized insureds; and commercial general liability, umbrella, professional liability, directors and officers, commercial property, and surety products, as well as products for technology, and life sciences and travel industries. In addition, this segment offers cyber risk solutions; crime and fidelity insurance products; medical professional coverages; workers' compensation insurance products; general insurance; personal lines insurance solutions, including home, condo/co-op, auto, and collectibles; automobile, law enforcement, public officials and educator's legal, and employment practices liability, as well as incidental medical and property and crime insurance products; at-risk and alternative risk insurance program management services; professional liability; energy and marine risks; and provides insurance products to the Lloyd's marketplace. The Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment provides treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions; property and casualty reinsurance; facultative reinsurance products include automatic, semi-automatic and individual risk assumed reinsurance; and turnkey products such as cyber, employment practices liability insurance, liquor liability insurance and violent events. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

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.