Contrasting Vericity (VERY) and Its Peers

Vericity (NASDAQ:VERY) is one of 40 publicly-traded companies in the “Life insurance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Vericity to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Vericity has a beta of 0.14, indicating that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericity’s peers have a beta of 0.80, indicating that their average stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.9% of Vericity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.4% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Vericity shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.4% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Vericity and its peers’ 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	6.82%	12.60%	1.06%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vericity and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vericity	$177.57 million	-$9.89 million	-16.69
Vericity Competitors	$19.01 billion	$1.22 billion	-23,954.89

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Vericity and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vericity	0	0	0	0	N/A
Vericity Competitors	338	2052	1538	44	2.32

As a group, “Life insurance” companies have a potential upside of 64.78%. Given Vericity’s peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vericity has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Vericity peers beat Vericity on 9 of the 9 factors compared.

Vericity Company Profile

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.