Contrasting Globe Life (NYSE:GL) and CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO)

Globe Life (NYSE:GL) and CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.6% of Globe Life shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Globe Life shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Globe Life and CNO Financial Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Globe Life	$5.99 billion	2.22	$1.16 billion	$15.06	11.49
CNO Financial Group	$4.49 billion	1.14	$229.30 million	$2.91	18.96

Globe Life has higher revenue and earnings than CNO Financial Group. Globe Life is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CNO Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Globe Life and CNO Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Globe Life	19.58%	20.52%	3.96%
CNO Financial Group	6.02%	18.76%	1.24%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Globe Life and CNO Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Globe Life	0	2	8	1	2.91
CNO Financial Group	0	3	2	0	2.40

Globe Life presently has a consensus target price of $191.67, suggesting a potential upside of 10.73%. CNO Financial Group has a consensus target price of $56.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.47%. Given Globe Life’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Globe Life is more favorable than CNO Financial Group.

Dividends

Globe Life pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Globe Life pays out 8.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CNO Financial Group pays out 24.7% 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. Globe Life has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years and CNO Financial Group has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

Globe Life has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Globe Life beats CNO Financial Group on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Globe Life

Globe Life Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various life and supplemental health insurance products, and annuities to lower middle- and middle-income families in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Life Insurance, Supplemental Health Insurance, Annuities, and Investments. It offers whole, term, and other life insurance products; Medicare supplement and supplemental health insurance products, such as accident, cancer, critical illness, heart, and intensive care plans; and single-premium and flexible-premium deferred annuities. The company sells its products through its direct to consumer division, exclusive agencies, and independent agents. The company was formerly known as Torchmark Corporation and changed its name to Globe Life Inc. in August 2019. Globe Life Inc. was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in McKinney, Texas.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. The company also focuses on sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed indexed annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single and flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. It markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.