Contrasting Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (OTCMKTS:PWZYF) and United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS)

Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (OTCMKTS:PWZYF) and United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) are both financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen and United Fire Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen	0	0	0	0	N/A
United Fire Group	1	0	0	0	1.00

United Fire Group has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential downside of 8.48%. Given United Fire Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe United Fire Group is more favorable than Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen.

Profitability

This table compares Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen and United Fire Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen	N/A	N/A	N/A
United Fire Group	3.17%	5.23%	1.16%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen and United Fire Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen	N/A	N/A	N/A	C$35.81	0.34
United Fire Group	$1.10 billion	0.48	-$29.70 million	($0.69)	-30.09

Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen has higher earnings, but lower revenue than United Fire Group. United Fire Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.7% of United Fire Group shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of United Fire Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

United Fire Group beats Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen

POWSZECHNY Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA provides life and non-life insurance products and services in Poland, the Baltic States, and Ukraine. It operates through Corporate Insurance, Mass Insurance, Group and Individually Continued Life Insurance, Individual Life Insurance, Investments, Pension Insurance, Banking, Baltic States, Ukraine, Investment Contracts, and Other segments. The company offers motor, property, casualty, agricultural, fire, and third-party liability insurance, as well as health, accident, and life insurance. It also provides banking, factoring, medical, hospital, physical therapy, asset management, assistance, leasing, IT, call center, brokerage, and spa services; manages pension and mutual funds; and offers financial and accounting services. In addition, the company is involved in buying, operating, renting, and selling real estate properties; investment activity; and consulting and training, and other monetary intermediation businesses. Further, it engages in the production and sale of radiators and sanitary fittings, bathroom accessories, and fittings; and auxiliary activity associated with insurance and pension funds. Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen SA was founded in 1803 and is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products. The company sells its products through a network of independent agencies. United Fire Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.