Cathay General Bancorp (CATY) Competitors

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) and Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in FHN or CATY?

80.3% of First Horizon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of First Horizon shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better valuation and earnings, FHN or CATY?

First Horizon has higher revenue and earnings than Cathay General Bancorp. Cathay General Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Horizon, 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
First Horizon	$5.03B	2.12	$775M	$1.44	14.64
Cathay General Bancorp	$1.39B	2.30	$285.98M	$3.96	11.53

Do analysts rate FHN or CATY?

First Horizon currently has a consensus price target of $22.53, suggesting a potential upside of 6.91%. Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus price target of $50.17, suggesting a potential upside of 9.85%. Given Cathay General Bancorp's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cathay General Bancorp is more favorable than First Horizon.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Horizon	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
Cathay General Bancorp	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more risk and volatility, FHN or CATY?

First Horizon has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cathay General Bancorp has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor FHN or CATY?

In the previous week, First Horizon had 6 more articles in the media than Cathay General Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for First Horizon and 4 mentions for Cathay General Bancorp. Cathay General Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat First Horizon's score of 0.33 indicating that Cathay General Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Horizon	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Cathay General Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is FHN or CATY more profitable?

Cathay General Bancorp has a net margin of 20.55% compared to First Horizon's net margin of 16.13%. First Horizon's return on equity of 10.33% beat Cathay General Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Horizon	16.13%	10.33%	1.09%
Cathay General Bancorp	20.55%	10.23%	1.25%

Is FHN or CATY a better dividend stock?

First Horizon pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Cathay General Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. First Horizon pays out 41.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cathay General Bancorp pays out 34.3% 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. Cathay General Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Cathay General Bancorp beats First Horizon on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.