Comerica (CMA) Competitors

Comerica (NYSE:CMA) and East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Do analysts rate CMA or EWBC?

Comerica presently has a consensus price target of $64.40, suggesting a potential downside of 9.07%. East West Bancorp has a consensus price target of $114.15, suggesting a potential upside of 7.73%. Given East West Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than Comerica.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Comerica	5 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
East West Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62

Which has more volatility & risk, CMA or EWBC?

Comerica has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CMA or EWBC a better dividend stock?

Comerica pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Comerica pays out 54.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. East West Bancorp pays out 28.0% 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. East West Bancorp has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to CMA or EWBC?

In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 12 more articles in the media than Comerica. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for East West Bancorp and 10 mentions for Comerica. East West Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Comerica's score of 1.17 indicating that East West Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Comerica	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
East West Bancorp	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of CMA or EWBC?

80.7% of Comerica shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Comerica shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, CMA or EWBC?

East West Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Comerica. East West Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Comerica, 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
Comerica	$4.99B	1.82	$698M	$5.22	13.57
East West Bancorp	$2.69B	5.44	$1.17B	$8.56	12.38

Is CMA or EWBC more profitable?

East West Bancorp has a net margin of 26.06% compared to Comerica's net margin of 14.92%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 15.09% beat Comerica's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Comerica	14.92%	10.92%	0.92%
East West Bancorp	26.06%	15.09%	1.56%

Summary

East West Bancorp beats Comerica on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.