Zurich Insurance Group (OTCMKTS:ZURVY) versus CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) Critical Analysis

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for CNO Financial Group and Zurich Insurance Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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

CNO Financial Group currently has a consensus target price of $46.25, indicating a potential upside of 13.26%. Given CNO Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe CNO Financial Group is more favorable than Zurich Insurance Group.

Volatility and Risk

CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zurich Insurance Group has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

CNO Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Zurich Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. 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.

Profitability

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

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

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

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CNO Financial Group	$4.49 billion	0.86	$229.30 million	$2.23	18.31
Zurich Insurance Group	$62.95 billion	1.68	$6.80 billion	N/A	N/A

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

Summary

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

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.

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.