BankUnited (BKU) Competitors

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) and BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, community ranking and profitability.

Is FHN or BKU more profitable?

First Horizon has a net margin of 15.38% compared to BankUnited's net margin of 11.48%. First Horizon's return on equity of 10.10% beat BankUnited's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Horizon	15.38%	10.10%	1.07%
BankUnited	11.48%	8.48%	0.66%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FHN or BKU?

First Horizon received 110 more outperform votes than BankUnited when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.13% of users gave BankUnited an outperform vote while only 54.46% of users gave First Horizon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Horizon	Outperform Votes 513 54.46%	Underperform Votes 429 45.54%
BankUnited	Outperform Votes 403 55.13%	Underperform Votes 328 44.87%

Do analysts recommend FHN or BKU?

First Horizon currently has a consensus target price of $22.41, indicating a potential upside of 12.40%. BankUnited has a consensus target price of $40.42, indicating a potential upside of 15.39%. Given BankUnited's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BankUnited 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
BankUnited	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has better earnings and valuation, FHN or BKU?

First Horizon has higher revenue and earnings than BankUnited. BankUnited 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	$3.09B	3.28	$775M	$1.44	13.84
BankUnited	$1.03B	2.56	$232.47M	$3.22	10.88

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FHN or BKU?

80.3% of First Horizon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of BankUnited shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of First Horizon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of BankUnited shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, FHN or BKU?

First Horizon has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BankUnited has a beta of 1.29, suggesting that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor FHN or BKU?

In the previous week, First Horizon had 18 more articles in the media than BankUnited. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for First Horizon and 5 mentions for BankUnited. BankUnited's average media sentiment score of 1.51 beat First Horizon's score of 1.31 indicating that BankUnited is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Horizon	16 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
BankUnited	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is FHN or BKU a better dividend stock?

First Horizon pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. BankUnited pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. First Horizon pays out 41.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BankUnited pays out 38.5% 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. BankUnited has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. BankUnited is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

First Horizon beats BankUnited on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.