Critical Contrast: AA (OTCMKTS:AATDF) & Loews (NYSE:L)

AA (OTCMKTS:AATDF) and Loews (NYSE:L) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares AA and Loews’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AA	N/A	N/A	N/A
Loews	8.83%	8.51%	1.91%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for AA and Loews, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AA	0	0	0	0	0.00
Loews	0	0	0	1	4.00

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.3% of Loews shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.0% of Loews shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AA and Loews”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Loews	$18.45 billion	1.20	$1.67 billion	$7.87	13.66

Loews has higher revenue and earnings than AA.

Summary

Loews beats AA on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AA

AA plc provides roadside assistance, insurance, and driving services in the United Kingdom. It operates through two segments, Roadside and Insurance. The company offers breakdowns cover for cars, motorcycles, caravans, vans, and towing; car, motorbike, van, and caravan insurance; and loans, savings, mortgage, travel currency card, insurance, and credit card products. It also provides home, content, building, pet, and holiday home insurance products; and travel services. In addition, the company offers driving advisory services, such as child safety, fuel and environment, legal advisory, service and repair, safety, security, and driving cost and other services; car and MOT services; and financial services, such as personal loans, car loans, home improvement loans, debt consolidation loans, wedding loans, loan management, savings, credit cards, and online security services, as well as reinsurance services. It serves fleet and leasing companies. The company was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Basingstoke, the United Kingdom.

About Loews

Loews Corporation provides commercial property and casualty insurance in the United States and internationally. The company offers specialty insurance products, such as management and professional liability, and other coverage products; surety and fidelity bonds; property insurance products that include standard and excess property, marine and boiler, and machinery coverages; and casualty insurance products, such as workers' compensation, general and product liability, and commercial auto, surplus, and umbrella coverages. It also provides loss-sensitive insurance programs; and warranty, risk management, information, and claims administration services. The company markets its insurance products and services through independent agents, brokers, and managing general underwriters. In addition, the company is involved in the transportation and storage of natural gas and natural gas liquids, and hydrocarbons through natural gas pipelines covering approximately 13,455 miles of interconnected pipelines; 855 miles of NGL pipelines in Louisiana and Texas; 14 underground storage fields with an aggregate gas capacity of approximately 199.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas; and eleven salt dome caverns and related brine infrastructure for providing brine supply services. Further, the company operates a chain of 25 hotels; and develops, manufactures, and markets a range of extrusion blow-molded and injection molded plastic containers for customers in the pharmaceutical, dairy, household chemicals, food/nutraceuticals, industrial/specialty chemicals, and water and beverage/juice industries, as well as manufactures commodity and differentiated plastic resins from recycled plastic materials. Loews Corporation was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in New York, New York.