Financial Comparison: Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK) versus Radian Group (NYSE:RDN)

Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) and Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Radian Group and Prudential Public’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Radian Group	40.50%	13.57%	6.95%
Prudential Public	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Radian Group and Prudential Public, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Radian Group	0	3	5	0	2.62
Prudential Public	0	2	4	1	2.86

Radian Group currently has a consensus target price of $43.17, suggesting a potential upside of 13.27%. Given Radian Group’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Radian Group is more favorable than Prudential Public.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Radian Group and Prudential Public”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Radian Group	$1.20 billion	4.23	$582.64 million	$4.06	9.39
Prudential Public	$27.75 billion	1.30	$3.98 billion	N/A	N/A

Prudential Public has higher revenue and earnings than Radian Group.

Volatility & Risk

Radian Group has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prudential Public has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.3% of Radian Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.9% of Prudential Public shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Radian Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Prudential Public shares are held 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.

Dividends

Radian Group pays an annual dividend of $1.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Prudential Public pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Radian Group pays out 25.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Radian Group has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Radian Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Radian Group beats Prudential Public on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Radian Group

Radian Group Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mortgage and real estate services business in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mortgage Insurance and Homegenius segments. The Mortgage Insurance segment aggregates, manages, and distributes U.S. mortgage credit risk for mortgage lending institutions and mortgage credit investors, through private mortgage insurance on residential first-lien mortgage loans; and other credit risk management solutions, including contract underwriting. The Homegenius segment offers title services, including a suite of insurance and non-insurance titles; tax and title data, centralized recording, document retrieval, and default curative title services; deed and property reports; closing and settlement services; mortgage underwriting and processing; escrow; appraisal management; and real estate brokerage. This segment also provides real estate valuation products and services; asset management services for managing real estate owned properties, which includes a web-based workflow solution; and a suite of real estate technology products and services to facilitate real estate transactions, such as proprietary platforms as a service solution. It serves mortgage originators, such as mortgage bankers, commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and community banks; and consumers, mortgage lenders, mortgage and real estate investors, government-sponsored enterprises, real estate brokers and agents, and corporations for their employees. The company was formerly known as CMAC Investment Corp. and changed its name to Radian Group Inc. in June 1999. Radian Group Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

About Prudential Public

Prudential plc, through its subsidiaries, provides life and health insurance, and asset management solutions to individuals in Asia and Africa. The company was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.