Barclays (BARC) Competitors

Barclays (LON:BARC) and HSBC (LON:HSBA) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, media sentiment, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and risk.

Is BARC or HSBA a better dividend stock?

Barclays pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. HSBC pays an annual dividend of GBX 48 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Barclays pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HSBC pays out 46.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, BARC or HSBA?

HSBC has higher revenue and earnings than Barclays. HSBC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Barclays, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barclays	£24.93B	2.16	£4.87B	£34.03	11.03
HSBC	£83.82B	2.55	£29.03B	£103.98	9.21

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of BARC or HSBA?

54.1% of Barclays shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.8% of HSBC shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Barclays shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of HSBC shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer BARC or HSBA?

Barclays presently has a consensus target price of GBX 400.20, indicating a potential upside of 6.67%. HSBC has a consensus target price of GBX 947.86, indicating a potential downside of 1.01%. Given Barclays' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Barclays is more favorable than HSBC.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barclays	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
HSBC	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43

Does the media prefer BARC or HSBA?

In the previous week, Barclays had 6 more articles in the media than HSBC. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Barclays and 8 mentions for HSBC. HSBC's average media sentiment score of 0.23 beat Barclays' score of 0.08 indicating that HSBC is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Barclays	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
HSBC	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more risk and volatility, BARC or HSBA?

Barclays has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HSBC has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BARC or HSBA more profitable?

HSBC has a net margin of 34.63% compared to Barclays' net margin of 19.54%. HSBC's return on equity of 12.54% beat Barclays' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barclays	19.54%	6.97%	0.32%
HSBC	34.63%	12.54%	0.80%

Summary

Barclays and HSBC tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.