Critical Review: White Mountains Insurance Group (NYSE:WTM) versus Everest Group (NYSE:EG)

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) and White Mountains Insurance Group (NYSE:WTM) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.6% of Everest Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of White Mountains Insurance Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Everest Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of White Mountains Insurance Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Everest Group has a beta of 0.23, indicating that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, White Mountains Insurance Group has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Everest Group pays an annual dividend of $8.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. White Mountains Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Everest Group pays out 16.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. White Mountains Insurance Group pays out 0.2% 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. Everest Group has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Everest Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Everest Group and White Mountains Insurance Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Everest Group	11.70%	13.71%	3.33%
White Mountains Insurance Group	29.29%	5.11%	2.37%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Everest Group and White Mountains Insurance Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Everest Group	0	9	5	0	2.36
White Mountains Insurance Group	0	1	1	0	2.50

Everest Group presently has a consensus price target of $426.27, indicating a potential upside of 1.27%. Given Everest Group’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Everest Group is more favorable than White Mountains Insurance Group.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Everest Group and White Mountains Insurance Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Everest Group	$17.50 billion	0.89	$1.59 billion	$47.32	8.90
White Mountains Insurance Group	$3.73 billion	1.52	$1.11 billion	$439.40	5.41

Everest Group has higher revenue and earnings than White Mountains Insurance Group. White Mountains Insurance Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Everest Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Everest Group beats White Mountains Insurance Group on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Everest Group

Everest Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through two segment, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Reinsurance segment writes property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines of business through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies in the United States, Bermuda, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The Insurance Operations segment writes property and casualty insurance directly, as well as through brokers, surplus lines, and general agents in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, Europe, South America, Singapore, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The company also provides treaty and facultative reinsurance products; admitted and non-admitted insurance products; and accident and health, specialty underwriters, eversports and entertainment, and surety and credit, marine and aviation, as well as structured and property hybrid solutions. In addition, it offers commercial property and casualty insurance products through wholesale and retail brokers, surplus lines brokers, and program administrators. The company was formerly known as Everest Re Group, Ltd. and changed its name to Everest Group, Ltd. in July 2023.Everest Group, Ltd., was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About White Mountains Insurance Group

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance and other financial services in the United States. The company operates through HG Global/BAM, Ark/WM Outrigger, Kudu, and Other Operations segments. The HG Global/BAM segment provides insurance on municipal bonds issued to finance public purposes, such as schools, utilities, and transportation facilities, as well as reinsurance protection services. The Ark/WM Outrigger segment offers reinsurance and insurance, including property, marine and energy, accident and health, casualty, and specialty products. The Kudu segment provides capital solutions to boutique asset and wealth managers for generational ownership transfers, management buyouts, acquisitions and growth finances, and legacy partner liquidity, as well as strategic assistance to investees. The Other Operations segment offers insurance solutions to travel industry through broker channel and on a direct-to-consumer basis; and manages separate accounts and pooled investment vehicles for insurance-linked securities sectors, including catastrophe bonds, collateralized reinsurance investments, and industry loss warranties of third-party clients. White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.