Critical Review: Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) & M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft (OTCMKTS:MURGY)

Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI) and M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft (OTCMKTS:MURGY) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.9% of Old Republic International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.2% of M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Old Republic International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Old Republic International and M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Old Republic International	0	2	1	1	2.75
M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft	0	2	1	1	2.75

Old Republic International presently has a consensus target price of $42.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.32%. Given Old Republic International’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Old Republic International is more favorable than M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft.

Volatility and Risk

Old Republic International has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Old Republic International pays an annual dividend of $1.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Old Republic International pays out 37.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft pays out 14.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Old Republic International has raised its dividend for 45 consecutive years. Old Republic International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Old Republic International and M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Old Republic International	10.24%	16.21%	3.38%
M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft	10.19%	19.90%	2.22%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Old Republic International and M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Old Republic International	$9.14 billion	1.08	$935.40 million	$3.39	11.90
M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft	$68.33 billion	1.21	$6.92 billion	$1.77	7.20

M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft has higher revenue and earnings than Old Republic International. M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Old Republic International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Old Republic International beats M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Old Republic International

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance underwriting and related services business primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: General Insurance, Title Insurance, and Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business. The General Insurance segment offers aviation, commercial auto, commercial multi-peril, commercial property, general liability, home and auto warranty, inland marine, travel accident, and workers' compensation insurance products; and financial indemnity products for specialty coverages, including errors and omissions, fidelity, directors and officers, and surety. This segment provides its insurance products to businesses, state and local government, and other institutions in transportation, commercial construction, healthcare, education, retail and wholesale trade, forest products, energy, general manufacturing, and financial services industries. The Title Insurance segment offers lenders' and owners' policies to real estate purchasers and investors based upon searches of the public records. This segment also provides escrow closing and construction disbursement services; and real estate information products, national default management services, and various other services pertaining to real estate transfers and loan transactions. The Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business segment offers private mortgage insurance coverage that protects mortgage lenders and investors from default related losses on residential mortgage loans made primarily to homebuyers. Old Republic International Corporation was founded in 1923 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

About M�nchener R�ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft

Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in München engages in the insurance and reinsurance businesses worldwide. It also offers life and health reinsurance solutions, such as digital underwriting and advanced analytics solutions, health insurance management system, financial market risks, financing, portfolio risk management, digitalized investment-linked solution, MIRA digital suite, MIRA POS, MIRApply insured and physician, claims risk adjustment, CLARA plus, data analytics, underwriting and claims, medical research, capital management, and health market. The company also provides property and casualty reinsurance solutions, including agricultural risk, data analytics, infrastructure risk profiler, property insurance, retroactive reinsurance, insurance linked securities, location risk, risk transfer, and cyber, NatCatSERVICE for natural catastrophe loss database, REALYTIX ZERO, IMPROVEX, and cert2go, as well as consulting services for reinsurance, business advisory, portfolio performance and management, claims management, commercial motor, telematics, and electric vehicles. In addition, the company provides solutions for industry clients, such as IoT cover, earnings quality insurance protection, captive insurance and risk transfer, liability, weather risks, space and satellite insurance, solar and biomass insurance, wind insurance, digital asset, mining risks cover, construction projects covers and services, aviation insurance, power and utilities, industrial cyber insurance, risk suite, location risk intelligence, digital risks, PV warranty insurance, parametric, Insure AI, e-mobility, circular economy, liquidation damage cover, and natural catastrophes solutions. Further, it offers life, property-casualty, health, legal protection, and travel insurance products under the ERGO brand name; and insurance solutions for agriculture, captive, epidemic, cyber, and renewable energy. The company was founded in 1880 and is based in Munich, Germany.