Head to Head Review: eHealth (NASDAQ:EHTH) and Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC)

Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) and eHealth (NASDAQ:EHTH) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.4% of Investors Title shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of eHealth shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.0% of Investors Title shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of eHealth shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Investors Title and eHealth”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Investors Title	$293.47 million	1.87	$35.18 million	$21.35	13.60
eHealth	$554.01 million	0.03	$40.04 million	($1.16)	-0.49

eHealth has higher revenue and earnings than Investors Title. eHealth is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Investors Title, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Investors Title and eHealth’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Investors Title	13.80%	14.62%	11.02%
eHealth	5.42%	6.13%	2.92%

Volatility & Risk

Investors Title has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, eHealth has a beta of 1.63, suggesting that its stock price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Investors Title and eHealth, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Investors Title	0	0	1	0	3.00
eHealth	1	5	0	0	1.83

eHealth has a consensus target price of $2.19, indicating a potential upside of 281.90%. Given eHealth’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe eHealth is more favorable than Investors Title.

Summary

Investors Title beats eHealth on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Investors Title

Investors Title Company engages in the issuance of residential and commercial title insurance for residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. The company underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and assumes the reinsurance of title insurance risks from other title insurance companies. It offers services in connection with tax-deferred exchanges of like-kind property; acts as a qualified intermediary in tax-deferred exchanges of property; coordinates the exchange aspects of the real estate transaction, such as drafting standard exchange documents, holding the exchange funds between the sale of the old property and the purchase of the new property, and accepting the formal identification of the replacement property. In addition, it serves as an exchange accommodation titleholder for accomplishing reverse exchanges when the taxpayers decide to acquire replacement property before selling the relinquished property. Further, the company offers investment management and trust services to individuals, companies, banks, and trusts; and consulting and management services to clients to start and operate a title insurance agency. It issues title insurance policies directly and through a network of agents in 22 states and the District of Columbia, primarily in the eastern half of the United States. Investors Title Company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

About eHealth

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.