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RE or MKL: Which P&C Insurance Stock is Better Placed?

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Better pricing, an improving rate environment, exposure growth, prudent underwriting and solid capital position poise the property and casualty insurers well amid a volatile market. However, an active catastrophe environment could weigh on the upside.

Global commercial insurance prices rose for 20 straight quarters though the magnitude has slowed down over the last seven quarters, per Marsh Global Insurance Market Index.

Better pricing ensures improved premiums and prudent claims payment. Per Deloitte Insights, gross premiums are estimated to increase about sixfold to $722 billion by 2030. China and North America should account for more than two-thirds of the global market, per the report.

The insurance industry is rate sensitive. The interest rate environment has started to improve. The Fed has already made six hikes in 2022 with more to come. An improving rate environment is a boon for insurers, especially long-tail insurers.

Catastrophic events weigh on the underwriting profitability of insurers. Colorado State University expects an active Atlantic hurricane season this year with 18 named storms. These include eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

Nonetheless, the insurance industry continues to witness accelerated digitalization. Players are investing heavily in technology to improve scale and efficiencies. Per Deloitte Insights, the technology budget is projected to increase 13.7% in 2022.

While a solid policyholders’ surplus will help the industry absorb losses, a sturdy capital level continues to aid insurers in pursuing strategic mergers and acquisitions, investing in growth initiatives, engaging in share buybacks, increasing dividends or paying out special dividends.

The industry has risen 6.7% year to date against the Finance sector’s decrease of 11.6% and the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s decline of 15.8%.

Here we focus on two property and casualty insurers, namely Everest Re Limited and Markel Corporation (MKL - Free Report) .  Everest Re, with a market capitalization of $13.1 billion, writes property and casualty, reinsurance and insurance in the United States, Bermuda and international markets. Markel, with a market capitalization of $18.1 billion, markets and underwrites specialty insurance products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. Both companies carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Let’s now see how these P&C insurers have fared in terms of some of the key metrics.

Price Performance

Everest Re has rallied 21.7% year to date, outperforming Markel’s gain of 8.9% and the industry’s increase of 6.7%.  

Return on Equity (ROE)

Markel has a return on equity of 10.5%, which exceeds Everest Re’s ROE of 6.4% and the industry average of 5.4%.

Dividend Yield

Everest Re’s dividend yield of 1.98% tops the industry average of 0.4%. Markel does not pay a dividend.

Debt-to-Equity

Everest Re’s debt-to-equity ratio of 40.3 is higher than the industry average of 25.3 as well as Markel’s reading of 33.4.  

Earnings Surprise History

Everest Re has outpaced expectations in three of the four trailing quarters, the average surprise being 10.26%. MKL missed expectations in the trailing four quarters, delivering an average negative earnings surprise of 24.65.

Growth Projection

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings indicates an 11.4% increase from the year-ago reported figure for MKL but a decline of 19.3% for RE.

The consensus estimate for 2023 earnings indicates a 29.8% increase from the year-ago reported figure for MKL and 75% for RE.

MKL has a Growth Score of B, while RE has a Growth Score of C.

MKL has the edge over RE.

Combined Ratio

The combined ratio represents underwriting profitability of an insurer.  RE’s combined ratio was 98.8 in the first nine months of 2022 while the same for Markel was 91 in the first nine months of 2022.

Style Score

Both MKL and RE have a VGM Score of B.

To Conclude

Our comparative analysis shows that Everest Re has the edge over Markel with respect to price performance, dividend yield, earnings surprise history. MKL outpaces RE on ROE, growth projection, combined ratio and leverage.


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