Banco Santander (SAN) Competitors

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BAC or SAN?

70.7% of Bank of America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.2% of Banco Santander shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Bank of America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of Banco Santander shares are held by 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.

Is BAC or SAN a better dividend stock?

Bank of America pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of $0.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Bank of America pays out 30.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco Santander pays out 20.0% 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. Bank of America has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Bank of America is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is BAC or SAN more profitable?

Banco Santander has a net margin of 17.30% compared to Bank of America's net margin of 14.81%. Banco Santander's return on equity of 11.98% beat Bank of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank of America	14.81%	10.25%	0.84%
Banco Santander	17.30%	11.98%	0.71%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, BAC or SAN?

Bank of America has higher revenue and earnings than Banco Santander. Banco Santander is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank of America, 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
Bank of America	$192.43B	1.94	$27.13B	$3.42	14.73
Banco Santander	$66.96B	2.10	$13.61B	$0.90	10.51

Does the media prefer BAC or SAN?

In the previous week, Bank of America had 68 more articles in the media than Banco Santander. MarketBeat recorded 79 mentions for Bank of America and 11 mentions for Banco Santander. Banco Santander's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat Bank of America's score of 1.19 indicating that Banco Santander is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Bank of America	58 Very Positive mention(s)	11 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Banco Santander	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, BAC or SAN?

Bank of America has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Santander has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer BAC or SAN?

Bank of America presently has a consensus price target of $50.13, suggesting a potential downside of 0.47%. Given Bank of America's higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Bank of America is more favorable than Banco Santander.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank of America	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.77
Banco Santander	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Summary

Bank of America beats Banco Santander on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.