Contrasting Till Capital (OTCMKTS:TILCF) & United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS)

Till Capital (OTCMKTS:TILCF) and United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Till Capital and United Fire Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Till Capital	$6.76 million	0.54	-$2.18 million	N/A	N/A
United Fire Group	$1.10 billion	0.46	-$29.70 million	($0.69)	-29.13

Till Capital has higher earnings, but lower revenue than United Fire Group.

Dividends

Till Capital pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 130.4%. United Fire Group pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. United Fire Group pays out -92.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Volatility & Risk

Till Capital has a beta of -0.72, indicating that its stock price is 172% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Fire Group has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Till Capital and United Fire Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Till Capital	0	0	0	0	N/A
United Fire Group	1	0	0	0	1.00

United Fire Group has a consensus target price of $19.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.47%. Given United Fire Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe United Fire Group is more favorable than Till Capital.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.7% of United Fire Group shares are held by institutional investors. 27.5% of Till Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of United Fire Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Till Capital and United Fire Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Till Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A
United Fire Group	3.17%	5.23%	1.16%

Summary

United Fire Group beats Till Capital on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Till Capital

Till Capital Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mineral exploration activities. The company explores for silver, gold, copper, and other deposits. It owns various mineral royalties and exploration property option agreements. The company also holds an interest in the Copper King property. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

About United Fire Group

United Fire Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers commercial and personal lines of property and casualty insurance; and reinsurance coverage for property and casualty insurance. Its commercial lines include fire and allied lines, other liability, automobile, workers’ compensation, fidelity and surety coverage, and other insurance products; and personal lines comprise automobile, and fire and allied lines coverage, including homeowners, as well as provides assumed reinsurance products. The company sells its products through a network of independent agencies. United Fire Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.