UCBI vs. FBP, CATY, IBOC, INDB, IBKC, EWBC, FHN, WAL, CBSH, and WBS
Should you be buying United Community Banks stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of United Community Banks include First BanCorp. (FBP), Cathay General Bancorp (CATY), International Bancshares (IBOC), Independent Bank (INDB), IBERIABANK (IBKC), East West Bancorp (EWBC), First Horizon (FHN), Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), Commerce Bancshares (CBSH), and Webster Financial (WBS). These companies are all part of the "regional banks" industry.
United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) and First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation and risk.
United Community Banks has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First BanCorp. has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.
United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. First BanCorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. United Community Banks pays out 59.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First BanCorp. pays out 36.6% 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. First BanCorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
First BanCorp. has lower revenue, but higher earnings than United Community Banks. First BanCorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, First BanCorp. had 5 more articles in the media than United Community Banks. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for First BanCorp. and 20 mentions for United Community Banks. United Community Banks' average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat First BanCorp.'s score of 0.55 indicating that United Community Banks is being referred to more favorably in the media.
United Community Banks received 23 more outperform votes than First BanCorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.16% of users gave First BanCorp. an outperform vote while only 56.10% of users gave United Community Banks an outperform vote.
82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.9% of First BanCorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Community Banks shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of First BanCorp. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
First BanCorp. has a net margin of 25.91% compared to United Community Banks' net margin of 13.36%. First BanCorp.'s return on equity of 21.86% beat United Community Banks' return on equity.
United Community Banks currently has a consensus target price of $31.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.03%. First BanCorp. has a consensus target price of $20.00, indicating a potential downside of 8.38%. Given United Community Banks' higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than First BanCorp..
Summary
First BanCorp. beats United Community Banks on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding UCBI and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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