Renasant (RNST) Competitors

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and Renasant (NASDAQ:RNST) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Is EWBC or RNST a better dividend stock?

East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Renasant pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. East West Bancorp pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Renasant pays out 27.3% 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. East West Bancorp has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Renasant is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better earnings and valuation, EWBC or RNST?

East West Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Renasant. Renasant is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than East West Bancorp, 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
East West Bancorp	$4.53B	3.31	$1.17B	$8.38	12.99
Renasant	$668.50M	5.42	$195.46M	$3.22	11.84

Do analysts recommend EWBC or RNST?

East West Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $108.38, suggesting a potential downside of 0.45%. Renasant has a consensus price target of $41.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.50%. Given Renasant's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Renasant is more favorable than East West Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
East West Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62
Renasant	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of EWBC or RNST?

89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.3% of Renasant shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Renasant shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, EWBC or RNST?

East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Renasant has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor EWBC or RNST?

In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 15 more articles in the media than Renasant. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for East West Bancorp and 5 mentions for Renasant. Renasant's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat East West Bancorp's score of 0.94 indicating that Renasant is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
East West Bancorp	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Renasant	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is EWBC or RNST more profitable?

East West Bancorp has a net margin of 25.73% compared to Renasant's net margin of 17.91%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 15.23% beat Renasant's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
East West Bancorp	25.73%	15.23%	1.55%
Renasant	17.91%	6.58%	0.93%

Summary

East West Bancorp beats Renasant on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.