Head-To-Head Analysis: First American Corporation (The) (FAF) & Conifer Holdings (CNFR)

First American Corporation (The) (NYSE: FAF) and Conifer Holdings (NASDAQ:CNFR) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Dividends

First American Corporation (The) pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Conifer Holdings does not pay a dividend. First American Corporation (The) pays out 41.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Conifer Holdings has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

86.5% of First American Corporation (The) shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Conifer Holdings shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of First American Corporation (The) shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 45.5% of Conifer Holdings shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares First American Corporation (The) and Conifer Holdings’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First American Corporation (The)	6.38%	12.22%	4.15%
Conifer Holdings	-8.65%	-14.14%	-4.74%

Risk & Volatility

First American Corporation (The) has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Conifer Holdings has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for First American Corporation (The) and Conifer Holdings, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First American Corporation (The)	0	1	0	0	2.00
Conifer Holdings	0	1	0	0	2.00

First American Corporation (The) presently has a consensus price target of $39.00, indicating a potential downside of 19.57%. Given First American Corporation (The)’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe First American Corporation (The) is more favorable than Conifer Holdings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares First American Corporation (The) and Conifer Holdings’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First American Corporation (The)	$5.78 billion	0.93	$671.97 million	$3.30	14.69
Conifer Holdings	$100.97 million	0.49	-$7.78 million	($1.15)	-5.66

First American Corporation (The) has higher revenue and earnings than Conifer Holdings. Conifer Holdings is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First American Corporation (The), indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

First American Corporation (The) beats Conifer Holdings on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

First American Corporation (The) Company Profile

First American Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in the business of providing financial services. The Company operates through the title insurance and services segment, and specialty insurance segment. The title insurance and services segment provides title insurance, closing and/or escrow services and similar or related services domestically and internationally in connection with residential and commercial real estate transactions. The title insurance and services segment also provides products, services and solutions involving the use of property related data, including data derived from its database, which are designed to manage risk or otherwise facilitate real estate transactions. The specialty insurance segment issues property and casualty insurance policies and sells home warranty products to residential homeowners and renters for liability losses and typical hazards, such as fire, theft, vandalism and other types of property damage.

Conifer Holdings Company Profile

Conifer Holdings, Inc. is an insurance holding company. Through its insurance company subsidiaries, the Company offers insurance coverage in both specialty commercial and specialty personal product lines. It operates through two segments: commercial lines and personal lines. It is engaged in underwriting and marketing insurance coverage, and administering claims processing for such policies. The Company offers coverage for property, liability, automobile, and other miscellaneous coverage primarily to owner-operated small and mid-sized businesses, professional organizations and hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, bars and taverns. The Company offers coverage for low-value dwelling, wind-exposed homeowners and automobile. Its personal lines products include Catastrophe coverage, including hurricane and wind coverage, to underserved homeowners in Florida, Hawaii and Texas, and Dwelling insurance.