Vericity (VERY) & Its Competitors Critical Review

Vericity (NASDAQ:VERY) is one of 42 publicly-traded companies in the “Life insurance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Vericity to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Vericity and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vericity	$177.57 million	-$9.89 million	-16.74
Vericity Competitors	$20.65 billion	$1.26 billion	-22,159.76

Vericity’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Vericity. Vericity is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Volatility & Risk

Vericity has a beta of 0.14, meaning that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericity’s rivals have a beta of 0.82, meaning that their average stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.9% of Vericity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 10.4% of Vericity shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.3% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Vericity and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vericity	0	0	0	0	N/A
Vericity Competitors	359	2374	2037	73	2.38

As a group, “Life insurance” companies have a potential upside of 58.49%. Given Vericity’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vericity has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Vericity and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vericity	-5.57%	-9.13%	-1.23%
Vericity Competitors	6.56%	12.95%	1.03%

Summary

Vericity rivals beat Vericity on 9 of the 10 factors compared.

About Vericity

Vericity, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides life insurance protection products for the middle American market. The company operates through Agency and Insurance segments. The Agency segment sells life insurance products for unaffiliated insurance companies through its call center distribution platform, as well as through its independent agents and other marketing organizations. This segment is also involved in the insurance lead sale activities through its eCoverage web presence. The Insurance segment provides term life, accidental death, and final expense products. Vericity, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois.