Head-To-Head Survey: Kingstone Companies (NASDAQ:KINS) and Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY)

Kingstone Companies (NASDAQ:KINS) and Sampo (OTCMKTS:SAXPY) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kingstone Companies and Sampo”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kingstone Companies	$155.14 million	1.51	$18.36 million	$2.19	7.58
Sampo	$2.47 billion	51.72	$1.25 billion	$1.39	17.20

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Kingstone Companies and Sampo, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kingstone Companies	0	0	1	0	3.00
Sampo	0	2	0	1	2.67

Dividends

Kingstone Companies pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Sampo pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Kingstone Companies pays out 9.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sampo pays out 23.0% 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.

Risk & Volatility

Kingstone Companies has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sampo has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kingstone Companies and Sampo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kingstone Companies	15.68%	33.69%	7.48%
Sampo	N/A	19.32%	5.57%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

14.9% of Kingstone Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sampo shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of Kingstone Companies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Kingstone Companies beats Sampo on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kingstone Companies

Kingstone Companies, Inc., through its subsidiary, provides property and casualty insurance products to individuals in the United States. It offers personal line of insurance products, such as homeowners and dwelling fire, cooperative/condominiums, renters, and personal umbrella policies. The company also provides for-hire vehicle physical damage only policies for livery and car service vehicles and taxicabs; and canine legal liability policies. In addition, it offers reinsurance products. The company underwrites its products through retail and wholesale agents and brokers. The company was formerly known as DCAP Group, Inc. and changed its name to Kingstone Companies, Inc. in July 2009. Kingstone Companies, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Kingston, New York.

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.