Bâloise (OTCMKTS:BLHEF) & Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Head-To-Head Survey

Bâloise (OTCMKTS:BLHEF) and Aflac (NYSE:AFL) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Bâloise and Aflac”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bâloise	N/A	N/A	N/A	$11.35	21.74
Aflac	$18.29 billion	3.21	$3.65 billion	$9.33	12.55

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Bâloise and Aflac, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bâloise	0	0	0	0	0.00
Aflac	3	7	2	2	2.21

Aflac has a consensus target price of $116.62, indicating a potential downside of 0.41%. Given Aflac’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Aflac is more favorable than Bâloise.

Dividends

Bâloise pays an annual dividend of $3.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Aflac pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Bâloise pays out 27.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Aflac pays out 26.2% 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. Aflac has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years. Aflac is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.9% of Bâloise shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.4% of Aflac shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Aflac shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Bâloise and Aflac’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bâloise	N/A	N/A	N/A
Aflac	26.91%	13.27%	3.34%

Summary

Aflac beats Bâloise on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bâloise

Bâloise Holding AG, together with its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the insurance and banking businesses in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg. It operates through Non-Life, Life, Asset Management & Banking, and Other Activities segments. The company offers various non-life insurance products, including accident, health, general liability, motor, fire and other property, marine, credit protection, and legal expenses insurance. It provides life insurance products, which include endowment policies, such as conventional and unit-linked life insurance; group life insurance products; term insurance; annuities; and policy riders. In addition, the company engages in the banking activities in Switzerland; and offers asset management services. Further, it has interests in equity investment companies, real-estate firms, and financing companies. It sells its products and services to individuals, small and medium sized enterprises, and industrial clients. Bâloise Holding AG was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan. The Aflac U.S. segment provides cancer, accident, short-term disability, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental, vision, long-term care and disability, and term and whole life insurance products in the United States. It sells its products through sales associates, brokers, independent corporate agencies, individual agencies, and affiliated corporate agencies. Aflac Incorporated was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Columbus, Georgia.