Sifting through countless of stocks in the Insurance industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc.

RLI Corp., an insurance holding company, provides property, casualty, and surety insurance products. Its Casualty segment provides commercial excess, personal umbrella, general liability, transportation, and management liability coverages; professional liability and workers’ compensation for office-based professional coverages; commercial automobile liability and physical damage insurance to local, intermediate and long haul truckers, public transportation entities, and other specialty commercial automobile risks; incidental related insurance coverages; inland marine coverages; directors and officers liability insurance, fiduciary liability and coverages, employment practice liability, public and private businesses risk, and home business insurance products. This segment also offers coverages for security guards and environmental liability for underground storage tanks, contractors and asbestos, and environmental remediation specialists; and professional liability coverages for errors and omission coverage for small to medium-sized design, technical, computer, and miscellaneous professionals. The company’s Property segment offers commercial property insurance, such as fire, wind, difference in conditions, earthquake, flood, and collapse coverages; insurance for office buildings, apartments, condominiums, and industrial and mercantile structures; and cargo, hull, protection and indemnity, marine liability, inland marine, homeowners’ and dwelling fire, and other property insurance products. Its Surety segment provides commercial surety bonds for medium and large-sized businesses; small bonds for businesses and individuals; and bonds for small to medium-sized contractors. The company offers reinsurance coverages. It markets its products through branch offices, wholesale and retail brokers, carrier partners, and underwriting and independent agents. RLI Corp. was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance and other insurance products, and financial services for middle-income pre-retiree and retired Americans in the United States. It offers Medicare supplement, supplemental health, and long-term care insurance policies; life insurance; and annuities, as well as Medicare advantage plans to individual consumers through phone, virtually, online, and face-to-face with agents. The company also focuses on sale of voluntary benefit life and health insurance products for businesses, associations, and other membership groups by interacting with customers at their place of employment. In addition, it provides fixed indexed annuities; fixed interest annuities, including fixed rate single-premium deferred annuities; flexible premium deferred annuities; single premium immediate annuities; supplemental health products, such as specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity products; and long-term care plans primarily to retirees, lesser degree, and older self-employed individuals in the middle-income market. Further, the company offers universal life and other interest-sensitive life products; and traditional life policies that include whole life, graded benefit life, term life, and single premium whole life products, as well as graded benefit life insurance products. It markets its products under the Bankers Life, Washington National, and Colonial Penn brand names. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

Latest Insurance and RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group, Inc. Stock News

As of July 31, 2026, RLI Corp. had a $5.6 billion market capitalization, compared to the Insurance median of $7.1 million. RLI Corp.’s stock is down 4.3% in 2026, down 1.1% in the previous five trading days and down 7.31% in the past year.

Currently, RLI Corp.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.9. RLI Corp.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.0 billion with a 22.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 15.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.844 per share for the current fiscal year. RLI Corp. currently has a 7.7% dividend yield.

As of July 31, 2026, CNO Financial Group, Inc. had a $5.1 billion market cap, putting it in the 68th percentile of all stocks. CNO Financial Group, Inc.’s stock is up 29.7% in 2026, up 3.5% in the previous five trading days and up 52.77% in the past year.

Currently, CNO Financial Group, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 22.0. CNO Financial Group, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $4.5 billion with a 5.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 2.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.428 per share for the current fiscal year. CNO Financial Group, Inc. currently has a 1.3% dividend yield.

How We Compare RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. 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 streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
RLI Corp.	RLI	C
CNO Financial Group, Inc.	CNO	B

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives 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.

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

RLI Corp. has a Value Score of 48, which is Average. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a Value Score of 80, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: CNO Financial Group, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, CNO Financial Group, Inc. is considered to have better value than RLI Corp.. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, CNO Financial Group, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
RLI Corp.	RLI	A
CNO Financial Group, Inc.	CNO	B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

RLI Corp. has a Growth Score of 83, which is Very Strong. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: RLI Corp.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, RLI Corp. has a more attractive growth grade than CNO Financial Group, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, RLI Corp. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
RLI Corp.	RLI	B
CNO Financial Group, Inc.	CNO	C

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

RLI Corp. has a Quality Score of 72, which is Strong. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has a Quality Score of 44, which is Average.

The Quality Grade Winner: RLI Corp.

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, RLI Corp. has a better overall quality grade than CNO Financial Group, Inc.. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, RLI Corp. could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc. Grades

In addition to Value, Quality and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Estimate Revisions.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group or Inc. Stock?

Overall, RLI Corp. stock has a Value Score of 48, Growth Score of 83 and Quality Score of 72.

CNO Financial Group, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 80, Growth Score of 73 and Quality Score of 44.

Comparing RLI Corp., CNO Financial Group and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

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

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.