Goosehead Insurance (NASDAQ:GSHD – Get Free Report) and James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.
Risk & Volatility
Goosehead Insurance has a beta of 1.57, meaning that its share price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, James River Group has a beta of -0.06, meaning that its share price is 106% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
95.2% of James River Group shares are held by institutional investors. 48.4% of Goosehead Insurance shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.8% of James River Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Goosehead Insurance | 0 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 2.54 |
| James River Group | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.20 |
Goosehead Insurance currently has a consensus target price of $77.60, indicating a potential upside of 82.93%. James River Group has a consensus target price of $7.25, indicating a potential upside of 18.08%. Given Goosehead Insurance’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Goosehead Insurance is more favorable than James River Group.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Goosehead Insurance and James River Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Goosehead Insurance | $365.30 million | 4.25 | $27.83 million | $1.04 | 40.79 |
| James River Group | $687.61 million | 0.41 | $47.43 million | $0.73 | 8.41 |
James River Group has higher revenue and earnings than Goosehead Insurance. James River Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Goosehead Insurance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Goosehead Insurance and James River Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Goosehead Insurance | 7.62% | -21.31% | 7.79% |
| James River Group | 6.90% | 12.01% | 1.23% |
Summary
Goosehead Insurance beats James River Group on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Goosehead Insurance
Goosehead Insurance, Inc. operates as a holding company for Goosehead Financial, LLC that engages in the provision of personal lines insurance agency services in the United States. The company offers homeowner’s, automotive, dwelling property, flood, wind, earthquake, excess liability or umbrella, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, general liability, property, and life insurance products and services. As of December 31, 2023, it operated 1,415 franchise locations. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Westlake, Texas.
About James River Group
James River Group Holdings, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance services. It operates through Excess and Surplus Lines, and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites liability and property insurance in the United States Puerto Rice, and the United States Virgin Islands. This segment distributes its insurance policies primarily through wholesale insurance brokers. The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment provides insurance for fronting, program administrators, managing general agents, and independent retail agents. James River Group Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.
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