Financial Contrast: Swiss Re (OTCMKTS:SSREY) & Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF)

Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF) and Swiss Re (OTCMKTS:SSREY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Fidelity National Financial and Swiss Re, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fidelity National Financial	0	1	3	0	2.75
Swiss Re	4	5	0	1	1.80

Fidelity National Financial currently has a consensus target price of $68.25, indicating a potential upside of 26.41%. Given Fidelity National Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fidelity National Financial is more favorable than Swiss Re.

Volatility and Risk

Fidelity National Financial has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Swiss Re has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Fidelity National Financial and Swiss Re”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fidelity National Financial	$13.68 billion	1.11	$1.27 billion	$4.15	13.01
Swiss Re	$45.60 billion	1.02	$3.24 billion	N/A	N/A

Swiss Re has higher revenue and earnings than Fidelity National Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Fidelity National Financial and Swiss Re’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fidelity National Financial	8.34%	15.06%	1.33%
Swiss Re	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Fidelity National Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Swiss Re pays an annual dividend of $1.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Fidelity National Financial pays out 50.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fidelity National Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Fidelity National Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.2% of Fidelity National Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Fidelity National Financial 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.

Summary

Fidelity National Financial beats Swiss Re on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fidelity National Financial

Fidelity National Financial, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various insurance products in the United States. The company operates through Title, F&G, and Corporate and Other segments. It offers title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including trust activities, trustee sales guarantees, recordings and reconveyances, and home warranty products. The company also provides technology and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries; and mortgage transaction services, including title-related services and facilitation of production and management of mortgage loans. In addition, it offers annuity and life insurance products, such as deferred and immediate annuities, as well as indexed universal life insurance products; and funding agreements and pension risk transfer (PRT) solutions. Further, the company engages in the real estate brokerage business. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

About Swiss Re

Swiss Re AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides wholesale reinsurance, insurance, other insurance-based forms of risk transfer, and other insurance-related services worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Property & Casualty Reinsurance, Life & Health Reinsurance, and Corporate Solutions. The Property & Casualty Reinsurance segment underwrites property reinsurance, including property, credit and surety, engineering, aviation, marine, agriculture, retakaful, and facultative reinsurance solutions; and casualty reinsurance, such as liability, motor, worker's compensation, personal accident, management and professional liability, cyber, and facultative reinsurance solutions. The Life & Health Reinsurance segment underwrites life and health insurance products. The Corporate Solutions segment offers standard risk transfer covers and multi-line programs to customized solutions. It serves stock and mutual insurance companies, public sector and governmental entities, mid-sized and large corporations, and individuals. The company was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.