Essent Group Ltd (ESNT) is undervalued and First American Financial Corp (FAF) is undervalued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, ESNT trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +32%, against +22% for FAF.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
Book value at 1.48x, the multiple a 12.0% return on equity justifies, blended with earnings, values the shares at $96.77; the price of $65.70 is 32% below that value.
Leak Score 84/100 on 3 of 12 signals
Book value at 1.39x, the multiple a 13.9% return on equity justifies, blended with earnings, values the shares at $88.72; the price of $69.24 is 22% below that value.
Leak Score 84/100 on 3 of 12 signals
| Metric | ESNT | FAF |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Undervalued | Undervalued |
| Price | $65.70 | $69.24 |
| Intrinsic value | $96.77 | $88.72 |
| Margin of safety | +32% | +22% |
| Leak Score | 84/100 (3/12) | 84/100 (3/12) |
| Market cap | $5.9B | $7.1B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 5.7% | 1.0% |
| Operating margin | 65.8% | 14.4% |
| Net margin | 52.5% | 9.3% |
| Return on equity | 12.0% | 13.9% |
| Debt to equity | 0.09 | 0.31 |
| P/E | 9.2x | 9.6x |
| Forward P/E | 8.5x | 9.6x |
| P/B | 1.0x | 1.3x |
| Dividend yield | 2.1% | 3.2% |