Barclays (BCS) Competitors

HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) and Barclays (NYSE:BCS) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Do analysts recommend HSBC or BCS?

HSBC presently has a consensus target price of $63.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.88%. Given HSBC's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe HSBC is more favorable than Barclays.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HSBC	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
Barclays	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, HSBC or BCS?

HSBC has higher revenue and earnings than Barclays. Barclays is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HSBC, 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
HSBC	$69.07B	3.28	$23.98B	$5.05	12.84
Barclays	$34.23B	2.07	$8.06B	$2.17	9.24

Is HSBC or BCS a better dividend stock?

HSBC pays an annual dividend of $1.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Barclays pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. HSBC pays out 39.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Barclays pays out 14.3% 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, HSBC or BCS?

HSBC has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barclays has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of HSBC or BCS?

1.5% of HSBC shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.4% of Barclays shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of HSBC shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Barclays shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor HSBC or BCS?

In the previous week, HSBC had 15 more articles in the media than Barclays. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for HSBC and 18 mentions for Barclays. Barclays' average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat HSBC's score of 0.30 indicating that Barclays is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HSBC	10 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	6 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Barclays	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is HSBC or BCS more profitable?

Barclays has a net margin of 22.11% compared to HSBC's net margin of 13.48%. HSBC's return on equity of 12.73% beat Barclays' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HSBC	13.48%	12.73%	0.81%
Barclays	22.11%	8.49%	0.40%

Summary

HSBC beats Barclays on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.