Capital One Financial (COF) Competitors

American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Is AXP or COF a better dividend stock?

American Express pays an annual dividend of $3.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Capital One Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. American Express pays out 22.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital One Financial pays out 20.2% 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. American Express has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Capital One Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is AXP or COF more profitable?

American Express has a net margin of 15.31% compared to Capital One Financial's net margin of 9.65%. American Express' return on equity of 32.48% beat Capital One Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Express	15.31%	32.48%	3.57%
Capital One Financial	9.65%	9.63%	1.21%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AXP or COF?

American Express has higher revenue and earnings than Capital One Financial. Capital One Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Express, 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
American Express	$65.95B	3.39	$10.13B	$14.32	22.31
Capital One Financial	$53.94B	1.51	$4.75B	$11.91	17.87

Does the media prefer AXP or COF?

In the previous week, American Express had 10 more articles in the media than Capital One Financial. MarketBeat recorded 58 mentions for American Express and 48 mentions for Capital One Financial. American Express' average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat Capital One Financial's score of 0.92 indicating that American Express is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Express	47 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Capital One Financial	26 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AXP or COF?

84.3% of American Express shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.8% of Capital One Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of American Express shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Capital One Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, AXP or COF?

American Express has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital One Financial has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate AXP or COF?

American Express presently has a consensus target price of $296.05, suggesting a potential downside of 7.33%. Capital One Financial has a consensus target price of $215.86, suggesting a potential upside of 1.41%. Given Capital One Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Capital One Financial is more favorable than American Express.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Express	1 Sell rating(s)	15 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29
Capital One Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88

Summary

American Express beats Capital One Financial on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.