Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) vs. International General Insurance (NASDAQ:IGIC) Financial Contrast

International General Insurance (NASDAQ:IGIC) and Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares International General Insurance and Assured Guaranty”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
International General Insurance	$524.05 million	2.02	$135.15 million	$2.76	8.60
Assured Guaranty	$872.00 million	4.49	$376.00 million	$8.06	10.54

Assured Guaranty has higher revenue and earnings than International General Insurance. International General Insurance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assured Guaranty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for International General Insurance and Assured Guaranty, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
International General Insurance	0	0	3	0	3.00
Assured Guaranty	0	2	2	0	2.50

International General Insurance currently has a consensus price target of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.37%. Assured Guaranty has a consensus price target of $101.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.90%. Given International General Insurance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe International General Insurance is more favorable than Assured Guaranty.

Risk & Volatility

International General Insurance has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its share price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assured Guaranty has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

International General Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Assured Guaranty pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. International General Insurance pays out 7.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Assured Guaranty pays out 16.9% 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. International General Insurance has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Assured Guaranty has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Assured Guaranty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares International General Insurance and Assured Guaranty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
International General Insurance	23.76%	18.36%	5.82%
Assured Guaranty	40.65%	7.09%	3.35%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.2% of International General Insurance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.2% of Assured Guaranty shares are held by institutional investors. 20.1% of International General Insurance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Assured Guaranty shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Assured Guaranty beats International General Insurance on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About International General Insurance

International General Insurance Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Specialty Long-tail, Specialty Short-tail, and Reinsurance. It is involved in underwriting a portfolio of specialty risks, including energy, property, construction and engineering, ports and terminals, general aviation, political violence, professional lines, financial institutions, motor, marine liability, contingency, marine, treaty, and casualty insurance and reinsurance. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Amman, Jordan.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments. It insures and reinsures various debt obligations, including bonds issued by the United States state governmental authorities; and notes issued to finance infrastructure projects. In addition, the company insures and reinsures various the U.S. public finance obligations, such as general obligation, tax-backed, municipal utility, transportation, healthcare, higher education, infrastructure, housing revenue, investor-owned utility, renewable energy, and other public finance bonds. Further, the company involved in insuring and reinsuring of non-U.S. public finance obligations comprising regulated utilities, infrastructure finance, sovereign and sub-sovereign, renewable energy bonds, pooled infrastructure, and other public finance obligations; and the U.S. and non-U.S. Structured finance obligations, including residential mortgage-backed securities, life insurance transactions, consumer receivables securities, subscription finance facilities, pooled corporate obligations, and financial products. Additionally, it offers specialty business, such as real estate properties, insurance securitizations, and aircraft residual value insurance (RVI) transactions; and asset management services comprising investment advisory services. It markets its financial guaranty insurance directly to issuers and underwriters of public finance and structured finance securities, as well as to investors in such obligations. Assured Guaranty Ltd. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.