Head to Head Review: Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) versus Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AMBC)

Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) and Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AMBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Sampo and Ambac Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sampo	0	2	0	1	2.67
Ambac Financial Group	1	0	1	0	2.00

Ambac Financial Group has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 65.93%. Given Ambac Financial Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ambac Financial Group is more favorable than Sampo.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Sampo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.5% of Ambac Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Ambac Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sampo and Ambac Financial Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sampo	$2.47 billion	52.13	$1.25 billion	$1.39	17.34
Ambac Financial Group	$249.54 million	1.59	-$556.45 million	($15.34)	-0.59

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

Risk and Volatility

Sampo has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ambac Financial Group has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sampo and Ambac Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sampo	N/A	19.32%	5.57%
Ambac Financial Group	-215.40%	-3.50%	-0.49%

Summary

Sampo beats Ambac Financial Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sampo

Sampo Oyj, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of non-life insurance products and services in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through If, Topdanmark, Hastings, Mandatum, and Holding segments. It offers property, casualty, liability, accident, sickness, household, homeowner, motor, travel, marine, aviation, transport, forest, livestock, health, workers compensation, car, van, and bike insurance services, as well as reinsurance services. The company was founded in 1909 and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

About Ambac Financial Group

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. operates as a financial services holding company. It operates three businesses: Specialty Property and Casualty Insurance, Insurance Distribution, and Legacy Financial Guarantee (LFG) Insurance. The Specialty Property and Casualty Insurance business provides specialty property and casualty program insurance with a focus commercial and personal liability risks. The Insurance Distribution business includes the specialty property and casualty insurance distribution business, which includes managing general agents and underwriters, insurance wholesalers, brokers, and other distribution businesses. The LFG Insurance business offers financial guarantee insurance policies that provide an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee, which protects the holder of a debt obligation against non-payment when due of the principal and interest on the obligations guaranteed. Ambac Financial Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in New York, New York.