Investors Title (ITIC) versus The Competition Critical Analysis

Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) is one of 311 public companies in the “Insurance” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Investors Title to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Investors Title and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Investors Title	0	0	1	0	3.00
Investors Title Competitors	3336	15682	16533	742	2.40

As a group, “Insurance” companies have a potential upside of 5.46%. Given Investors Title’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Investors Title has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Investors Title and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Investors Title	$272.76 million	$35.18 million	13.08
Investors Title Competitors	$15.26 billion	$1.70 billion	34.48

Investors Title’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Investors Title. Investors Title 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.

Profitability

This table compares Investors Title and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Investors Title	13.80%	14.62%	11.02%
Investors Title Competitors	9.08%	-9.84%	4.11%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.4% of Investors Title shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are held by institutional investors. 26.0% of Investors Title shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.5% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Investors Title pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Investors Title pays out 9.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Insurance” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.9% and pay out 31.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Risk & Volatility

Investors Title has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Investors Title’s rivals have a beta of -1.59, suggesting that their average stock price is 259% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Investors Title beats its rivals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Investors Title Company Profile

Investors Title Company engages in the issuance of residential and commercial title insurance for residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. The company underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and assumes the reinsurance of title insurance risks from other title insurance companies. It offers services in connection with tax-deferred exchanges of like-kind property; acts as a qualified intermediary in tax-deferred exchanges of property; coordinates the exchange aspects of the real estate transaction, such as drafting standard exchange documents, holding the exchange funds between the sale of the old property and the purchase of the new property, and accepting the formal identification of the replacement property. In addition, it serves as an exchange accommodation titleholder for accomplishing reverse exchanges when the taxpayers decide to acquire replacement property before selling the relinquished property. Further, the company offers investment management and trust services to individuals, companies, banks, and trusts; and consulting and management services to clients to start and operate a title insurance agency. It issues title insurance policies directly and through a network of agents in 22 states and the District of Columbia, primarily in the eastern half of the United States. Investors Title Company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.