Analyzing Citizens (NYSE:CIA) & Kingstone Companies (NASDAQ:KINS)

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) and Kingstone Companies (NASDAQ:KINS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Citizens and Kingstone Companies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens	$255.01 million	0.78	$14.59 million	$0.21	16.83
Kingstone Companies	$214.87 million	1.25	$40.77 million	$2.42	7.64

Kingstone Companies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Citizens. Kingstone Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Citizens, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

13.7% of Citizens shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.9% of Kingstone Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Citizens shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Kingstone Companies shares are held 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Citizens and Kingstone Companies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens	1	0	2	0	2.33
Kingstone Companies	0	1	1	0	2.50

Citizens presently has a consensus target price of $5.50, suggesting a potential upside of 55.59%. Given Citizens’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Citizens is more favorable than Kingstone Companies.

Volatility & Risk

Citizens has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kingstone Companies has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens and Kingstone Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens	4.55%	4.73%	0.63%
Kingstone Companies	14.85%	30.78%	7.99%

Summary

Kingstone Companies beats Citizens on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens

Citizens, Inc. provides life insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Life Insurance and Home Service Insurance. The Life Insurance segment issues ordinary whole life insurance and endowment policies in the United States dollar-denominated amounts to non-U.S. residents in through independent marketing agencies and consultants. The Home Service Insurance segment offers final expense life insurance and property insurance policies to middle-and lower-income households, as well as whole life products in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. This segment provides its products and services through funeral homes and independent agents. The company provides accident and health insurance policies. Citizens, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Kingstone Companies

Kingstone Companies, Inc., through its subsidiary, provides property and casualty insurance products to individuals in the United States. It offers personal line of insurance products, such as homeowners and dwelling fire, cooperative/condominiums, renters, and personal umbrella policies. The company also provides for-hire vehicle physical damage only policies for livery and car service vehicles and taxicabs; and canine legal liability policies. In addition, it offers reinsurance products. The company underwrites its products through retail and wholesale agents and brokers. The company was formerly known as DCAP Group, Inc. and changed its name to Kingstone Companies, Inc. in July 2009. Kingstone Companies, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Kingston, New York.