Comparing Metromile (NASDAQ:MILE) & Mercury General (NYSE:MCY)

Metromile (NASDAQ:MILE – Get Rating) and Mercury General (NYSE:MCY – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Metromile and Mercury General’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Metromile	$104.90 million	1.00	-$216.46 million	($1.81)	-0.44
Mercury General	$3.99 billion	0.61	$247.94 million	($1.02)	-43.37

Mercury General has higher revenue and earnings than Metromile. Mercury General is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Metromile, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Metromile and Mercury General’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Metromile	-130.53%	-57.64%	-35.26%
Mercury General	-1.47%	2.05%	0.64%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.5% of Metromile shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.0% of Mercury General shares are owned by institutional investors. 35.5% of Mercury General shares are owned 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

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Metromile and Mercury General, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Metromile	0	2	0	0	2.00
Mercury General	0	0	0	0	N/A

Metromile presently has a consensus target price of $4.53, suggesting a potential upside of 462.11%. Given Metromile’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Metromile is more favorable than Mercury General.

Risk & Volatility

Metromile has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercury General has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Mercury General beats Metromile on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Metromile (Get Rating)

Metromile, Inc. provides insurance policies for automobile owners in the United States. It operates through two segments, Insurance Services and Enterprise Business Solutions. The company offers pay-per-mile auto insurance policies. It also provides The Pulse, a device that plugs into the diagnostic port of its customer's car and transmits data, such as miles driven, driving habits, phone use, speeding, hard braking, accelerating, cornering, and location over wireless cellular networks. In addition, the company offers access to its technology under software as a service arrangement, as well as professional services to third-party customers. Metromile, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Mercury General (Get Rating)

Mercury General Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in writing personal automobile insurance in the United States. The company also writes homeowners, commercial automobile, commercial property, mechanical protection, and umbrella insurance products. Its automobile insurance products include collision, property damage, bodily injury, comprehensive, personal injury protection, underinsured and uninsured motorist, and other hazards; and homeowners insurance products comprise dwelling, liability, personal property, fire, and other hazards. The company sells its policies through a network of independent agents and insurance agencies, as well as directly through internet sales portals in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Mercury General Corporation was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

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