Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) Competitors

HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) and Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, risk, valuation, community ranking and earnings.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in HSBC or BNS?

1.5% of HSBC shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.1% of Bank of Nova Scotia shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of HSBC shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer HSBC or BNS?

In the previous week, HSBC had 13 more articles in the media than Bank of Nova Scotia. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for HSBC and 13 mentions for Bank of Nova Scotia. Bank of Nova Scotia's average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat HSBC's score of 0.61 indicating that Bank of Nova Scotia is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HSBC	14 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Bank of Nova Scotia	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation and earnings, HSBC or BNS?

HSBC has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of Nova Scotia. HSBC is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank of Nova Scotia, 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	$68.12B	3.08	$23.53B	$5.45	10.89
Bank of Nova Scotia	$34.49B	1.86	$5.70B	$3.54	14.57

Is HSBC or BNS more profitable?

HSBC has a net margin of 16.17% compared to Bank of Nova Scotia's net margin of 10.20%. HSBC's return on equity of 12.20% beat Bank of Nova Scotia's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HSBC	16.17%	12.20%	0.79%
Bank of Nova Scotia	10.20%	11.56%	0.61%

Do analysts rate HSBC or BNS?

Bank of Nova Scotia has a consensus target price of $81.00, suggesting a potential upside of 57.08%. Given Bank of Nova Scotia's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bank of Nova Scotia is more favorable than HSBC.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HSBC	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Bank of Nova Scotia	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.44

Which has more risk and volatility, HSBC or BNS?

HSBC has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of Nova Scotia has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HSBC or BNS?

HSBC received 211 more outperform votes than Bank of Nova Scotia when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.29% of users gave Bank of Nova Scotia an outperform vote while only 58.23% of users gave HSBC an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
HSBC	Outperform Votes 966 58.23%	Underperform Votes 693 41.77%
Bank of Nova Scotia	Outperform Votes 755 63.29%	Underperform Votes 438 36.71%

Is HSBC or BNS a better dividend stock?

HSBC pays an annual dividend of $1.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Bank of Nova Scotia pays an annual dividend of $2.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. HSBC pays out 36.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of Nova Scotia pays out 83.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Bank of Nova Scotia has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Bank of Nova Scotia is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

HSBC beats Bank of Nova Scotia on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.