ASB vs. CATY, FFBC, FULT, HWC, ONB, WTFC, FNB, SNV, WBS, and BCH
Should you be buying Associated Banc stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Associated Banc include Cathay General Bancorp (CATY), First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC), Fulton Financial (FULT), Hancock Whitney (HWC), Old National Bancorp (ONB), Wintrust Financial (WTFC), F.N.B. (FNB), Synovus Financial (SNV), Webster Financial (WBS), and Banco De Chile (BCH). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Associated Banc vs. Its Competitors
Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) and Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.
Cathay General Bancorp has a net margin of 20.55% compared to Associated Banc's net margin of 6.02%. Cathay General Bancorp's return on equity of 10.23% beat Associated Banc's return on equity.
Associated Banc presently has a consensus price target of $26.44, indicating a potential upside of 2.26%. Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus price target of $50.17, indicating a potential upside of 4.55%. Given Cathay General Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cathay General Bancorp is more favorable than Associated Banc.
In the previous week, Cathay General Bancorp had 5 more articles in the media than Associated Banc. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Cathay General Bancorp and 4 mentions for Associated Banc. Associated Banc's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Cathay General Bancorp's score of 0.98 indicating that Associated Banc is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Cathay General Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Associated Banc pays out 107.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cathay General Bancorp pays out 34.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Associated Banc is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Associated Banc has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cathay General Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.
83.0% of Associated Banc shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Associated Banc shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Cathay General Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Associated Banc. Cathay General Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Associated Banc, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Cathay General Bancorp beats Associated Banc on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Associated Banc News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for ASB and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ASB and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE 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.
Skip Chart
Associated Banc Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:ASB) was last updated on 7/7/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff