Interesting stock - STC

AGA7d

A big company with low market cap, STC is one of the big 3 title insurers (FNF, FAF are the other 2). Currently, it well underperformed its peers. So the valuation is low and expectation is low.

It is a play for the recovering housing transactions - while the housing price may still going lower, we see the lower end sales are rising and the overall sales should improve. So my gut feeling is the worst for the title insurers may have passed. Another big player, LFG, Land America went BK last year so the 3 left likely will get a bigger share.

Title insurance is a high margin biz, but the downturn caused a big slide in volume and the 3 title companies have not cut head counts as fast - leaving them bleeding for several quarters.

The survival for STC is not an issue, it is relatively conservative and it has a tangible book value of $11, which is about current share price. With recent bond sale, it has no cash problem at least for a while. There is a great potential for STC once the housing transactions slowly return.

I bought a small lot recently - and waiting for it breaks out (could be down or up near term). Also, there is a insider who bought a few times at higher price in the past year.

trueself

thanks！

epsom

Thanks