EverQuote, Inc. EVER has agreed to acquire PolicyFuel, LLC and its affiliated entities to introduce policy-sales-as-a-service (PSaaS) for property and casualty (P&C) carrier partners.

Los Angeles, CA-based PolicyFuel, an insurance agency accelerator, operates in P&C insurance verticals. It provides PSaaS offerings to its carrier clients and furnishes proven, scalable solutions for customer acquisition in the insurance industry. It has offices in Austin and San Antonio, TX. Its trailing twelve-month revenues through Mar 31, 2021 were around $10 million.

EverQuote plans to fund the transaction with cash on hand. Pending regulatory conditions, the transaction is expected to close by third-quarter end. This online insurance marketplace intends to pay around $16 million in cash to acquire PolicyFuel along with additional consideration to be paid in EverQuote common stock over the three years on achieving growth targets for scaling their PSaaS operations.

The buyout of PolicyFuel is a strategic fit for EverQuote as it is expected to widen the range of products it offers and support its P&C carrier partners.

The deal will further enhance the personalized shopping experiences offered to consumers as well as enhance EverQuote’s ability to access the $135 billion commission TAM component of the overall insurance distribution spend shifting online.

With this acquisition, EverQuote will be well poised to participate in the commission portion within P&C insurance verticals. This will boost the services that are presently provided to carriers and third-party agents in marketplace.

As part of its growth strategies, EverQuote evaluates new products and services to enhance consumer and insurance provider engagement. With international expansion, organic development, acquisition and launch of non-insurance financial service offerings, the company expects to grow its business.

It recently launched direct-to-consumer, or DTC, agency offerings in life vertical. In September 2020, it acquired Crosspointe Insurance & Financial Services, LLC to accelerate and expand opportunity in the health insurance market, by providing insurance shoppers with a broader range of health insurance products and an improved and more personalized customer buying experience.

In this recent deal, PSaaS offerings of PolicyFuel for P&C markets will further extend EverQuote’s existing Direct-To-Consumer Agency (DTCA) strategy in Health and Life insurance verticals.

The multi-line insurer expects to leverage PolicyFuel’s expertise in PSaaS offerings in a bid to boosts such identical offerings that EverQuote currently offers.

It aims to invest in the growth of non-auto insurance verticals and looks to expand in these areas by leveraging customer acquisition capabilities, proprietary technology and data assets to retain more consumers and build distribution.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

EverQuote currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past year, the stock has lost 41.1% against the industry’s growth of 29.8%.

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You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Other Acquisitions in the Insurance Industry

There have been a host of consolidations in the insurance space of late, given significant capital availability. Horace Mann Educators Corporation HMN agreed to buy Madison National Life Insurance Company to boost its presence in the education market. State Auto Financial Corporation STFC agreed to merge with Liberty Mutual Holding Company. Athene Holding Ltd. ATH agreed to acquire Foundation Home Loans. The deal will offer Athene better investment opportunities in high-quality yield assets.

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EverQuote, Inc. (EVER) : Free Stock Analysis Report

State Auto Financial Corporation (STFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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