Critical Analysis: Vericity (VERY) & The Competition

Vericity (NASDAQ:VERY) is one of 42 publicly-traded companies in the “Life insurance” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Vericity to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.9% of Vericity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Vericity shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.3% of shares of all “Life insurance” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vericity	$177.57 million	-$9.89 million	-16.74
Vericity Competitors	$20.75 billion	$1.26 billion	8.03

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Vericity and its rivals, 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	360	2390	2043	73	2.38

As a group, “Life insurance” companies have a potential upside of 50.78%. Given Vericity’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vericity has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Volatility and Risk

Vericity has a beta of 0.14, indicating that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericity’s rivals have a beta of 0.83, indicating that their average stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Vericity and its rivals’ 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	7.37%	13.01%	1.04%

Summary

Vericity rivals beat Vericity on 10 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.