Financial Survey: GAINSCO (OTCMKTS:GANS) versus W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB)

GAINSCO (OTCMKTS:GANS) and W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

68.8% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by institutional investors. 73.5% of GAINSCO shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.0% of W. R. Berkley shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for GAINSCO and W. R. Berkley, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GAINSCO	0	0	0	0	0.00
W. R. Berkley	1	6	6	0	2.38

W. R. Berkley has a consensus target price of $63.74, indicating a potential upside of 7.69%. Given W. R. Berkley’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe W. R. Berkley is more favorable than GAINSCO.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GAINSCO and W. R. Berkley”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GAINSCO	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
W. R. Berkley	$13.16 billion	1.71	$1.38 billion	$3.90	15.18

W. R. Berkley has higher revenue and earnings than GAINSCO.

Profitability

This table compares GAINSCO and W. R. Berkley’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GAINSCO	N/A	N/A	N/A
W. R. Berkley	11.96%	20.41%	4.16%

Summary

W. R. Berkley beats GAINSCO on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GAINSCO

GAINSCO, Inc. operates as a property and casualty insurance holding company. The company offers non-standard personal auto products, including coverage for third party liability, bodily injury, and physical damage, as well as collision and coverage for theft, physical damage, and other perils for an insured's vehicle. It is also involved in automotive sales and service, auto racing, and investment activities. The company offers its automobile insurance products under the GAINSCO Auto Insurance brand through independent partner agents and Website comparison shopping places. GAINSCO, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

About W. R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines. This segment also provides accident and health insurance and reinsurance products; insurance for commercial risks; casualty and specialty environmental products; specialized insurance coverages for fine arts and jewelry exposures; excess liability and inland marine coverage for small to medium-sized insureds; and commercial general liability, umbrella, professional liability, directors and officers, commercial property, and surety products, as well as products for technology, and life sciences and travel industries. In addition, this segment offers cyber risk solutions; crime and fidelity insurance products; medical professional coverages; workers' compensation insurance products; general insurance; personal lines insurance solutions, including home, condo/co-op, auto, and collectibles; automobile, law enforcement, public officials and educator's legal, and employment practices liability, as well as incidental medical and property and crime insurance products; at-risk and alternative risk insurance program management services; professional liability; energy and marine risks; and provides insurance products to the Lloyd's marketplace. The Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment provides treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions; property and casualty reinsurance; facultative reinsurance products include automatic, semi-automatic and individual risk assumed reinsurance; and turnkey products such as cyber, employment practices liability insurance, liquor liability insurance and violent events. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.