Waterdrop (NYSE:WDH) & Everest Group (NYSE:EG) Head to Head Comparison

Everest Group (NYSE:EG) and Waterdrop (NYSE:WDH) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Everest Group	3.12%	3.74%	0.92%
Waterdrop	15.58%	9.99%	7.57%

Dividends

Everest Group pays an annual dividend of $8.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Waterdrop pays an annual dividend of $0.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Everest Group pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Waterdrop pays out 26.3% 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 raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Waterdrop is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Everest Group and Waterdrop, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Everest Group	1	12	5	0	2.22
Waterdrop	0	2	0	0	2.00

Everest Group currently has a consensus price target of $367.87, indicating a potential upside of 10.64%. Waterdrop has a consensus price target of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.54%. Given Everest Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Everest Group is more favorable than Waterdrop.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.6% of Everest Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Waterdrop shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Everest Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.6% of Waterdrop shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Everest Group and Waterdrop”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Everest Group	$17.28 billion	0.81	$1.37 billion	$13.13	25.32
Waterdrop	$379.74 million	1.81	$50.35 million	$0.19	9.97

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

Risk and Volatility

Everest Group has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waterdrop has a beta of -0.25, indicating that its share price is 125% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Everest Group beats Waterdrop 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 Waterdrop

Waterdrop Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides online insurance brokerage services to match and connect users with related insurance products underwritten by insurance companies in the People's Republic of China. The company offers short-term health and long-term health and life insurance products and services. It also operates a medical crowdfunding platform. Waterdrop Inc. was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.