Head to Head Analysis: Vericity (VERY) versus Its Competitors

Vericity (NASDAQ:VERY) is one of 39 publicly-traded companies in the “Life insurance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Vericity to similar businesses based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Vericity and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vericity	-5.57%	-9.13%	-1.23%
Vericity Competitors	6.82%	12.60%	1.06%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Vericity and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vericity	0	0	0	0	N/A
Vericity Competitors	313	1949	1495	42	2.33

As a group, “Life insurance” companies have a potential upside of 64.78%. Given Vericity’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vericity has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Risk and Volatility

Vericity has a beta of 0.14, indicating that its share price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericity’s peers have a beta of 0.79, indicating that their average share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vericity and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vericity	$177.57 million	-$9.89 million	-16.69
Vericity Competitors	$18.78 billion	$1.26 billion	-23,954.89

Vericity’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Vericity. Vericity is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.9% of Vericity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.4% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 10.4% of Vericity shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.4% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Vericity peers beat Vericity on 9 of the 10 factors compared.

Vericity Company Profile

Vericity, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides life insurance protection products for the middle American market. The company operates through Agency and Insurance segments. The Agency segment sells life insurance products for unaffiliated insurance companies through its call center distribution platform, as well as through its independent agents and other marketing organizations. This segment is also involved in the insurance lead sale activities through its eCoverage web presence. The Insurance segment provides term life, accidental death, and final expense products. Vericity, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois.