Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 3 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Insurance industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Why Focus on Undervalued Insurance Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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3 Undervalued Insurance Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Insurance industry for Wednesday, October 16, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Insurance industry median.

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

eHealth, Inc.’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

eHealth, Inc. operates a health insurance marketplace that provides consumer engagement, education, and health insurance enrollment solutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Medicare; and Employer and Individual. The Medicare segment offers sale of Medicare-related health insurance plans, which includes Medicare advantage, Medicare Supplement, and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans to Medicare-eligible customers including but not limited to, dental, and vision insurance, as well as advertising program for marketing and other services. The Employer and Individual segment engages in the sale of individual, family, and small business health insurance plans; and ancillary products to non-Medicare-eligible customers including but not limited to, dental, vision, and short and long term disability insurance. In addition, the company provides ecommerce platforms and consumer engagement solutions, which includes market leading information, decision support, customer engagement, and transactional services to group of health insurance consumers; and organize and present the insurance information in objective format to individuals, families, and small businesses to research, analyze, compare and purchase health insurance plans. Further, it markets health insurance plans through its websites, including eHealth.com, eHealthInsurance.com, eHealthMedicare.com, Medicare.com, PlanPrescriber.com, and GoMedigap.com. The company also offers online sponsorship and advertising, non-broker of record, lead referral, technology licensing, as well as performs various post-enrollment services for members in Medicare health insurance plans. eHealth, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

eHealth, Inc. has a Value Score of 84, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at eHealth, Inc.’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.27 compared to the industry median at 1.03, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make eHealth, Inc.’s stock more attractive for value investors.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. eHealth, Inc.’s shareholder yield is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.50%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. eHealth, Inc.’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.55. This could make eHealth, Inc. more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Huize Holding Limited’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Huize Holding Limited, together with its subsidiaries, offers online insurance product and service platform through various internet channels in the People’s Republic of China. The company provides life and health insurance products, such as critical illness, illness and disease, annuity, and term and whole life insurance products; and property and casualty insurance products, including travel, individual casualty, and corporate liability insurance products. It also offers offline insurance intermediary and brokerage services. The company also provides digital and technology development services; investment, technology development, internet information, management, and financial consulting services; business management and catering services; and insurance agency services. Huize Holding Limited was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Huize Holding Limited has a Value Score of 94, which is considered to be undervalued.

Huize Holding Limited’s price-earnings ratio is 12.6 compared to the industry median at 15.1. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Huize Holding Limited more attractive for value investors.

Huize Holding Limited’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Huize Holding Limited less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.55.

You can read more about Huize Holding Limited’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides insurance and other financial services in the United States. The company operates through HG Global/BAM, Ark/WM Outrigger, Kudu, and Other Operations segments. The HG Global/BAM segment provides insurance on municipal bonds issued to finance public purposes, such as schools, utilities, and transportation facilities, as well as reinsurance protection services. The Ark/WM Outrigger segment offers reinsurance and insurance, including property, marine and energy, accident and health, casualty, and specialty products. The Kudu segment provides capital solutions to boutique asset and wealth managers for generational ownership transfers, management buyouts, acquisitions and growth finances, and legacy partner liquidity, as well as strategic assistance to investees. The Other Operations segment offers insurance solutions to travel industry through broker channel and on a direct-to-consumer basis; and manages separate accounts and pooled investment vehicles for insurance-linked securities sectors, including catastrophe bonds, collateralized reinsurance investments, and industry loss warranties of third-party clients. White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. has a Value Score of 79, which is considered to be undervalued.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.’s price-earnings ratio is 9.5 compared to the industry median at 15.1. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. more attractive for value investors.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.55.

You can read more about White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Other Insurance Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Insurance stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 3 Best Insurance Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

• eHealth, Inc. stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Huize Holding Limited stock has a Value Grade of A.
• White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. stock has a Value Grade of B.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Insurance industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Additional Resources About Insurance Stocks

Want to learn more about Insurance stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

• 3 Undervalued Insurance Stocks for Wednesday, October 16
• 7 Undervalued Insurance Stocks for Tuesday, October 15
• 3 Undervalued Insurance Stocks for Monday, October 14
• 5 Undervalued Insurance Stocks for Friday, October 11

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.