ACT vs ESNT: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ACT and ESNT share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ACT and ESNT exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Enact Holdings (Nasdaq: ACT) sells private mortgage insurance. When a borrower puts down less than 20% on a conventional loan sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the GSEs require credit enhancement, and Enact is one of a handful of companies that provides it. The economics are simple to describe and slow to unwind: Enact writes a policy, collects a recurring premium for as long as the loan stays outstanding, and pays a claim only if the borrower defaults and the foreclosure proceeds fall short. That produces a large, slow-moving book. Primary insurance in force was about $274B as of the second quarter of 2026, up roughly 2% year over year, and new insurance written in the quarter was about $15.2B. Revenue is net premiums earned plus investment income on the reserve portfolio, and because the cost base is thin, the operating margin runs above 70%.

Full ACT guide

Essent Group Ltd (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-domiciled holding company whose main subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, writes private mortgage insurance in the United States. Private mortgage insurance covers the lender (and ultimately Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) against loss when a borrower who put down less than 20% stops paying, which is what lets a first-time buyer close with 3% to 5% down. Essent earns a small annual premium on each insured loan and keeps earning it until the borrower refinances, sells, or builds enough equity to cancel coverage. Insurance in force was about $247.9 billion at the end of March 2026, with a weighted average FICO of 747 and persistency of 84.7%, meaning the vast majority of the book renews each year. Two smaller arms sit alongside it: Essent Re, a Bermuda reinsurer that takes GSE credit risk transfer and, more recently, third-party property and casualty business including a Lloyd's program, and Essent Title Insurance (the former Agents National Title, bought from CoreLogic in 2023) with the Boston National Title agency.

Full ESNT guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ACT drivers: Insurance in force compounding on high persistency; Credit performance and reserve development.
• ESNT drivers: Insurance in force and persistency; Credit performance and reserve development.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Enact is a concentrated bet on US mortgage credit, with essentially one product, one country and one collateral type. For ESNT, essent's core exposure is the housing and employment cycle, and the current low loss ratio assumes home equity keeps converting would-be claims into sales.

Pick ACT if you believe its drivers more; ESNT if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ACT and ESNT guides.

ACT. The multiple is typical of the mortgage insurance group rather than a company-specific discount: the market generally capitalizes these earnings at a low double-digit P/E and around book value because reported profits include reserve releases that are not assumed to repeat through a credit cycle. Price to book near 1.25x with mid-teens ROE implies the market expects returns to normalize lower over time. Because roughly 81% of the shares sit with Genworth, the free float is thin, which affects liquidity and the practical relevance of index-driven flows.

ESNT. Essent carried a market capitalization near $6.1 billion on roughly 92 million shares in early August 2026, putting the stock at about 9 to 10 times trailing earnings and a modest premium to its $61.20 book value per share. Q1 2026 net income was $171.8 million, or $1.82 per diluted share, on revenue of $336.1 million, with an annualized return on average equity of 12.0%. Second-quarter results were scheduled for August 7, 2026, so figures here reflect the March quarter. Valuation numbers are approximate and move with the share price.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): ACT shows market cap ~$6.7B, revenue (ttm) ~$1.25B, net income (ttm) ~$683M, p/e (trailing / forward) ~10.3x / ~9.9x; ESNT shows net premiums earned (q1 2026) ~$260M, net income (ttm) ~$686M, diluted eps (ttm) ~$7.03, book value per share ~$61 (Mar 31, 2026).

ACT and ESNT are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ACT and ESNT exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.