Critical Comparison: Kingsway Financial Services (KWY) & Its Competitors

Kingsway Financial Services (NYSE:KWY) is one of 340 public companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Kingsway Financial Services to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kingsway Financial Services and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kingsway Financial Services	1	0	0	0	1.00
Kingsway Financial Services Competitors	1986	6961	11745	446	2.50

As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential downside of 8.36%. Given Kingsway Financial Services’ rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kingsway Financial Services has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Volatility and Risk

Kingsway Financial Services has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kingsway Financial Services’ rivals have a beta of 2.51, meaning that their average share price is 151% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kingsway Financial Services and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kingsway Financial Services	-6.53%	-67.61%	-4.43%
Kingsway Financial Services Competitors	-338.57%	-39.92%	-5.61%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

72.4% of Kingsway Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.2% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 41.4% of Kingsway Financial Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Kingsway Financial Services and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kingsway Financial Services	$134.97 million	-$10.73 million	-28.13
Kingsway Financial Services Competitors	$6.46 billion	$1.09 billion	9.73

Kingsway Financial Services’ rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Kingsway Financial Services. Kingsway Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Kingsway Financial Services rivals beat Kingsway Financial Services on 8 of the 12 factors compared.

About Kingsway Financial Services

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:KWY) is a Canadian-based holding company that owns and operates businesses in the specialty insurance and insurance-services sectors. Its portfolio includes companies providing specialty insurance products, extended warranty programs, and related administrative and claims services. Historically, Kingsway operated primarily as a specialty insurance provider, including nonstandard automobile insurance businesses in the United States and Canada. The company has since focused on managing and developing a diversified group of insurance and non-insurance subsidiaries, with operations serving customers principally in North America.