First BanCorp. (FBP) Competitors

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) and East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment and risk.

Is FBP or EWBC more profitable?

East West Bancorp has a net margin of 25.73% compared to First BanCorp.'s net margin of 24.37%. First BanCorp.'s return on equity of 18.89% beat East West Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First BanCorp.	24.37%	18.89%	1.58%
East West Bancorp	25.73%	15.71%	1.58%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in FBP or EWBC?

97.9% of First BanCorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of First BanCorp. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate FBP or EWBC?

First BanCorp. presently has a consensus target price of $22.80, indicating a potential upside of 12.73%. East West Bancorp has a consensus target price of $107.85, indicating a potential upside of 17.95%. Given East West Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than First BanCorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First BanCorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
East West Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62

Is FBP or EWBC a better dividend stock?

First BanCorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. First BanCorp. pays out 39.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. East West Bancorp pays out 28.6% 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. First BanCorp. has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and East West Bancorp has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Does the media favor FBP or EWBC?

In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 15 more articles in the media than First BanCorp.. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for East West Bancorp and 6 mentions for First BanCorp.. First BanCorp.'s average media sentiment score of 1.55 beat East West Bancorp's score of 1.22 indicating that First BanCorp. is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First BanCorp.	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
East West Bancorp	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, FBP or EWBC?

East West Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than First BanCorp.. East West Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First BanCorp., 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 BanCorp.	$921.96M	3.54	$298.72M	$1.84	10.99
East West Bancorp	$2.62B	4.81	$1.17B	$8.38	10.91

Which has more volatility & risk, FBP or EWBC?

First BanCorp. has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FBP or EWBC?

East West Bancorp received 276 more outperform votes than First BanCorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.61% of users gave East West Bancorp an outperform vote while only 60.80% of users gave First BanCorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First BanCorp.	Outperform Votes 290 60.80%	Underperform Votes 187 39.20%
East West Bancorp	Outperform Votes 566 64.61%	Underperform Votes 310 35.39%

Summary

East West Bancorp beats First BanCorp. on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.