Essent Group trades at $65.25 and has moved in lockstep with the market. Its shares have returned 10.5% over the last six months while the S&P 500 has gained 13.1%.

Is now the time to buy Essent Group, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? See what our analysts have to say in our full research report, it’s free for active Edge members.

Why Is Essent Group Not Exciting?

We don't have much confidence in Essent Group. Here are three reasons there are better opportunities than ESNT and a stock we'd rather own.

1. Net Premiums Earned Point to Soft Demand

Net premiums earned are net of what’s paid to reinsurers (insurance for insurance companies), which are used by insurers to protect themselves from large losses.

Essent Group’s net premiums earned has grown at a 3.1% annualized rate over the last five years, worse than the broader insurance industry and slower than its total revenue.

3. EPS Barely Growing

Analyzing the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) shows whether a company's incremental sales were profitable – for example, revenue could be inflated through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Essent Group’s EPS grew at an unimpressive 10% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. On the bright side, this performance was better than its 6.2% annualized revenue growth and tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

Final Judgment

Essent Group isn’t a terrible business, but it doesn’t pass our quality test. That said, the stock currently trades at 1.1× forward P/B (or $65.25 per share). This valuation multiple is fair, but we don’t have much faith in the company. We're pretty confident there are more exciting stocks to buy at the moment. Let us point you toward a top digital advertising platform riding the creator economy.

Stocks We Would Buy Instead of Essent Group

The market’s up big this year - but there’s a catch. Just 4 stocks account for half the S&P 500’s entire gain. That kind of concentration makes investors nervous, and for good reason. While everyone piles into the same crowded names, smart investors are hunting quality where no one’s looking - and paying a fraction of the price. Check out the high-quality names we’ve flagged in our Top 5 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).

Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.