Contrasting Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK) & Waterdrop (NYSE:WDH)

Prudential Public (NYSE:PUK) and Waterdrop (NYSE:WDH) are both 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential Public	N/A	N/A	N/A
Waterdrop	15.58%	9.99%	7.57%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.9% of Prudential Public shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Waterdrop shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Prudential Public shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.6% of Waterdrop 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.

Volatility and Risk

Prudential Public has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waterdrop has a beta of -0.26, suggesting that its stock price is 126% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Prudential Public and Waterdrop, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential Public	0	1	5	0	2.83
Waterdrop	0	2	0	0	2.00

Waterdrop has a consensus target price of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.69%. Given Waterdrop’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Waterdrop is more favorable than Prudential Public.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Prudential Public and Waterdrop”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prudential Public	$16.66 billion	2.57	$2.29 billion	N/A	N/A
Waterdrop	$379.74 million	1.61	$50.35 million	$0.19	8.87

Prudential Public has higher revenue and earnings than Waterdrop.

Dividends

Prudential Public pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Waterdrop pays an annual dividend of $0.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Waterdrop pays out 26.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

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.

About Waterdrop

Waterdrop Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides online insurance brokerage services to match and connect users with related insurance products underwritten by insurance companies in the People's Republic of China. The company offers short-term health and long-term health and life insurance products and services. It also operates a medical crowdfunding platform. Waterdrop Inc. was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.