Critical Review: CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) & Zurich Insurance Group (OTCMKTS:ZURVY)

Zurich Insurance Group (OTCMKTS:ZURVY) and CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

Zurich Insurance Group has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Zurich Insurance Group and CNO Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zurich Insurance Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
CNO Financial Group	4.94%	15.80%	1.07%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Zurich Insurance Group and CNO Financial Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zurich Insurance Group	$62.95 billion	1.74	$6.80 billion	N/A	N/A
CNO Financial Group	$4.49 billion	0.86	$229.30 million	$2.23	18.45

Zurich Insurance Group has higher revenue and earnings than CNO Financial Group.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Zurich Insurance Group and CNO Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zurich Insurance Group	1	3	0	0	1.75
CNO Financial Group	1	1	3	0	2.40

CNO Financial Group has a consensus target price of $46.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.03%. Given CNO Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CNO Financial Group is more favorable than Zurich Insurance Group.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.0% of Zurich Insurance Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Zurich Insurance Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of CNO Financial Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Zurich Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $1.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. CNO Financial Group pays out 30.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CNO Financial Group has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Summary

CNO Financial Group beats Zurich Insurance Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Zurich Insurance Group

Zurich Insurance Group AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance products and related services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through Property & Casualty Regions, Life Regions, Farmers, Group Functions and Operations, and Non-Core Businesses segments. It offers car and motor, home, travel, general liability, life and critical illness, and other insurance products; and saving and investment, and pension and retirement planning products. The company also provides property, casualty, energy and engineering lines, and marine; commercial management liability, financial institutions, and professional indemnity; and cyber, accident and health, and credit lines and surety insurance products, as well as and non-claims and ancillary services to the farmers exchanges. In addition, it offers employee benefit insurance products; and climate resilience, risk engineering, captive, and cyber resilience, as well as climate risk assessment and reinsurance services. The company serves individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. It sells its products through agents, brokers, and bank distribution channels. Zurich Insurance Group AG was founded in 1872 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. The company also focuses on sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed indexed annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single and flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. It markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.