Sifting through countless of stocks in the Financial Services 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 Essent Group Ltd., American 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 Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group and Inc.

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance, and title insurance and settlement services to mortgage lenders, borrowers, and investors in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mortgage Insurance and Reinsurance. The company’s mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. It also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting services to third-party reinsurers; and contract underwriting services, as well as credit risk management products. In addition, the company offers title insurance and settlement services; and title insurance underwriting services. It serves the originators of residential mortgage loans, such as regulated depository institutions, mortgage banks, credit unions, and other lenders. Essent Group Ltd. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

American Financial Group, Inc., an insurance holding company, provides property and casualty insurance products in the United States. It operates through Property and Casualty Insurance and Other segments. The company offers property and transportation insurance products, such as physical damage and liability coverage for buses and trucks, other specialty transportation niches, inland and ocean marine, agricultural-related products, and other commercial property coverages; specialty casualty insurance, including primarily excess and surplus, executive and professional liability, general liability, umbrella and excess liability, and specialty coverage in targeted markets, as well as customized programs for small to mid-sized businesses and workers compensation insurance; and specialty financial insurance products comprising risk management insurance programs for lending and leasing institutions, fidelity and surety products, and trade credit insurance. It sells its property and casualty insurance products through independent insurance agents and brokers. American Financial Group, Inc. was formerly known as American Financial Group Holdings Inc and changed its name to American Financial Group, Inc. in July 1997. The company was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Latest Financial Services and Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group, Inc. Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Essent Group Ltd. had a $6.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Financial Services median of $2.3 million. Essent Group Ltd.’s stock is up 7.1% in 2026, up 0.5% in the previous five trading days and up 10.12% in the past year.

Currently, Essent Group Ltd.’s price-earnings ratio is 9.7. Essent Group Ltd.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.3 billion with a 51.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 13.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $7.559 per share for the current fiscal year. Essent Group Ltd. currently has a 2.0% dividend yield.

As of September 2, 2026, American Financial Group, Inc. had a $11.8 billion market cap, putting it in the 80th percentile of all stocks. American Financial Group, Inc.’s stock is up 5.6% in 2026, up 1.2% in the previous five trading days and up 4.19% in the past year.

Currently, American Financial Group, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.5. American Financial Group, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $8.1 billion with a 11.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.8%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $12.387 per share for the current fiscal year. American Financial Group, Inc. currently has a 2.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare Essent Group Ltd., American 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 Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Essent Group Ltd.	ESNT	A
American Financial Group, Inc.	AFG	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.

Essent Group Ltd. has a Value Score of 87, which is Deep Value. American Financial Group, Inc. has a Value Score of 78, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: Essent Group Ltd.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Essent Group Ltd. is considered to have better value than American Financial Group, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Essent Group Ltd. 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.

Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Essent Group Ltd.	ESNT	B
American Financial Group, Inc.	AFG	A

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.

Essent Group Ltd. has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong. American Financial Group, Inc. has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: American Financial Group, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, American Financial Group, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Essent Group Ltd.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, American 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.

Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Essent Group Ltd.	ESNT	A
American Financial Group, Inc.	AFG	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.

Essent Group Ltd. has a Quality Score of 83, which is Very Strong. American Financial Group, Inc. has a Quality Score of 57, which is Average.

The Quality Grade Winner: Essent Group Ltd.

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Essent Group Ltd. has a better overall quality grade than American Financial Group, Inc.. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Essent Group Ltd. 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 Essent Group Ltd., American 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 Essent Group Ltd., American 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, Essent Group Ltd., American Financial Group or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Essent Group Ltd. stock has a Value Score of 87, Growth Score of 73 and Quality Score of 83.

American Financial Group, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 78, Growth Score of 95 and Quality Score of 57.

Comparing Essent Group Ltd., American 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.