Banco Santander (SAN) Competitors

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

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of BAC or SAN?

70.7% of Bank of America shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.2% of Banco Santander shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Bank of America shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of Banco Santander shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate BAC or SAN?

Bank of America presently has a consensus price target of $47.98, suggesting a potential downside of 1.44%. Given Bank of America's higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	18 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Banco Santander	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has better 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	1.91	$27.13B	$3.36	14.49
Banco Santander	$66.96B	1.91	$13.61B	$0.87	9.72

Is BAC or SAN more profitable?

Banco Santander has a net margin of 16.92% compared to Bank of America's net margin of 14.56%. Banco Santander's return on equity of 12.26% beat Bank of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank of America	14.56%	10.25%	0.84%
Banco Santander	16.92%	12.26%	0.72%

Does the media favor BAC or SAN?

In the previous week, Bank of America had 96 more articles in the media than Banco Santander. MarketBeat recorded 115 mentions for Bank of America and 19 mentions for Banco Santander. Bank of America's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Banco Santander's score of 0.44 indicating that Bank of America is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Bank of America	70 Very Positive mention(s)	12 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	10 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Banco Santander	7 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

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 2.1%. Bank of America pays out 31.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco Santander pays out 20.7% 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 raised 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, BAC or SAN?

Bank of America has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Santander has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Bank of America beats Banco Santander on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.