Standard Chartered (STAN) Competitors

Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) and Banco Santander (LON:BNC) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Is STAN or BNC a better dividend stock?

Standard Chartered pays an annual dividend of GBX 23 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of GBX 17 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Standard Chartered pays out 20.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco Santander pays out 26.6% 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.

Do analysts rate STAN or BNC?

Standard Chartered currently has a consensus price target of GBX 1,233, suggesting a potential downside of 10.85%. Given Standard Chartered's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Standard Chartered is more favorable than Banco Santander.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Standard Chartered	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Banco Santander	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has more volatility and risk, STAN or BNC?

Standard Chartered has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Santander has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is STAN or BNC more profitable?

Standard Chartered has a net margin of 24.04% compared to Banco Santander's net margin of 20.05%. Banco Santander's return on equity of 12.99% beat Standard Chartered's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Standard Chartered	24.04%	8.77%	0.41%
Banco Santander	20.05%	12.99%	0.73%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, STAN or BNC?

Banco Santander has higher revenue and earnings than Standard Chartered. Banco Santander is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Standard Chartered, 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
Standard Chartered	£17.46B	2.39	£4.20B	£111.05	12.45
Banco Santander	£70.85B	1.77	£14.20B	£63.81	10.69

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of STAN or BNC?

74.7% of Standard Chartered shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of Banco Santander shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Standard Chartered shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Banco Santander shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to STAN or BNC?

In the previous week, Standard Chartered had 17 more articles in the media than Banco Santander. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Standard Chartered and 0 mentions for Banco Santander. Standard Chartered's average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat Banco Santander's score of 0.44 indicating that Standard Chartered is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Standard Chartered	Neutral
Banco Santander	Neutral

Summary

Standard Chartered beats Banco Santander on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.