Reviewing CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) and Lemonade (NYSE:LMND)

CNO Financial Group (NYSE:CNO) and Lemonade (NYSE:LMND) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares CNO Financial Group and Lemonade’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CNO Financial Group	6.41%	16.63%	1.13%
Lemonade	-33.96%	-36.12%	-10.93%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for CNO Financial Group and Lemonade, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CNO Financial Group	0	3	2	0	2.40
Lemonade	4	1	1	1	1.86

CNO Financial Group currently has a consensus price target of $43.40, indicating a potential upside of 10.55%. Lemonade has a consensus price target of $40.43, indicating a potential downside of 23.05%. Given CNO Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe CNO Financial Group is more favorable than Lemonade.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.4% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.3% of Lemonade shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of CNO Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.7% of Lemonade 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CNO Financial Group and Lemonade”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CNO Financial Group	$4.45 billion	0.86	$404.00 million	$2.71	14.49
Lemonade	$526.50 million	7.37	-$202.20 million	($2.83)	-18.57

CNO Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Lemonade. Lemonade is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CNO Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

CNO Financial Group has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lemonade has a beta of 2.28, suggesting that its stock price is 128% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CNO Financial Group beats Lemonade on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CNO Financial Group

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, insurance products, and financial services for senior and middle-income markets 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 individuals through phone, online, mail, and face-to-face. 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 and 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 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.

About Lemonade

Lemonade, Inc. provides various insurance products through various channels in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Its insurance products include stolen or damaged property, and personal liability that protects its customers if they are responsible for an accident or damage to another person or their property. The company also offers renters, homeowners, car, pet, and life insurance products, as well as landlord insurance policies. In addition, it operates as an agent for other insurance companies. The company was formerly known as Lemonade Group, Inc. and changed its name to Lemonade, Inc. Lemonade, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in New York, New York.