Capital One Financial (COF) Competitors

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

Is COF or AXP 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
Capital One Financial	9.65%	9.63%	1.21%
American Express	15.31%	32.48%	3.57%

Do analysts prefer COF or AXP?

Capital One Financial currently has a consensus price target of $215.86, suggesting a potential upside of 0.48%. American Express has a consensus price target of $296.05, suggesting a potential downside of 8.04%. Given Capital One Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Capital One Financial is more favorable than American Express.

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

Which has more risk & volatility, COF or AXP?

Capital One Financial has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Express has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer COF or AXP?

In the previous week, American Express had 11 more articles in the media than Capital One Financial. MarketBeat recorded 61 mentions for American Express and 50 mentions for Capital One Financial. American Express' average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Capital One Financial's score of 0.92 indicating that American Express is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Capital One Financial	26 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	14 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Express	46 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is COF or AXP a better dividend stock?

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

Do insiders & institutionals believe in COF or AXP?

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

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, COF or AXP?

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
Capital One Financial	$53.94B	1.53	$4.75B	$11.91	18.04
American Express	$65.95B	3.42	$10.13B	$14.32	22.48

Summary

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