HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) & Bowhead Specialty (NYSE:BOW) Financial Analysis

Bowhead Specialty (NYSE:BOW) and HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Bowhead Specialty and HCI Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bowhead Specialty	0	3	2	0	2.40
HCI Group	0	0	5	0	3.00

Bowhead Specialty presently has a consensus price target of $29.40, suggesting a potential downside of 4.42%. HCI Group has a consensus price target of $129.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.20%. Given HCI Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HCI Group is more favorable than Bowhead Specialty.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.0% of HCI Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.3% of HCI Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Bowhead Specialty and HCI Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bowhead Specialty	N/A	N/A	N/A
HCI Group	21.63%	44.01%	8.33%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bowhead Specialty and HCI Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bowhead Specialty	$348.44 million	2.78	N/A	N/A	N/A
HCI Group	$706.97 million	1.72	$79.03 million	$9.83	11.80

HCI Group has higher revenue and earnings than Bowhead Specialty.

Summary

HCI Group beats Bowhead Specialty on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bowhead Specialty

Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. provides specialty property and casualty insurance products in the United States. It underwrites casualty insurance solutions for risks in the construction, distribution, heavy manufacturing, real estate, and hospitality segments; professional liability insurance solutions for financial institutions, private and public directors and officers liability insurance, errors and omissions liability insurance, and cyber segments; and healthcare solutions for hospitals, senior care providers, managed care organizations, miscellaneous medical facilities, and healthcare management liability segments. The company distributes its products through distribution partners in wholesale and retail markets. Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. was formerly known as Bowhead Holdings Inc. and changed its name to Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. in March 2024. The company was founded in 2020 and is based in New York, New York. Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Bowhead Insurance Holdings LP.

About HCI Group

HCI Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the property and casualty insurance, insurance management, reinsurance, real estate, and information technology businesses in Florida. It provides residential insurance products, such as homeowners, fire, flood, and wind-only insurance to homeowners, condominium owners, and tenants for properties, as well as offers reinsurance programs. The company also owns and operates waterfront properties and retail shopping centers, and an office building, as well as commercial properties for investment purposes. In addition, it designs and develops web-based applications and products for mobile devices, including SAMS, an online policy administration platform; Harmony, a policy administration platform; ClaimColony, an end-to-end claims management platform; and AtlasViewer, a mapping and data visualization platform. The company was formerly known as Homeowners Choice, Inc. and changed its name to HCI Group, Inc. in May 2013. HCI Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.