Synchrony Financial (SYF) Competitors

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) and Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, profitability, community ranking, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SYF or BMO?

Synchrony Financial received 310 more outperform votes than Bank of Montreal when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.23% of users gave Synchrony Financial an outperform vote while only 56.45% of users gave Bank of Montreal an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Synchrony Financial	Outperform Votes 861 70.23%	Underperform Votes 365 29.77%
Bank of Montreal	Outperform Votes 551 56.45%	Underperform Votes 425 43.55%

Do analysts rate SYF or BMO?

Synchrony Financial currently has a consensus price target of $63.95, indicating a potential upside of 22.06%. Bank of Montreal has a consensus price target of $128.40, indicating a potential upside of 33.33%. Given Bank of Montreal's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bank of Montreal is more favorable than Synchrony Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Synchrony Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Bank of Montreal	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of SYF or BMO?

96.5% of Synchrony Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.8% of Bank of Montreal shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Synchrony Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Bank of Montreal shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, SYF or BMO?

Bank of Montreal has higher revenue and earnings than Synchrony Financial. Synchrony Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank of Montreal, 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
Synchrony Financial	$16.11B	1.26	$3.50B	$7.29	7.19
Bank of Montreal	$33.61B	2.07	$5.38B	$7.69	12.52

Is SYF or BMO more profitable?

Synchrony Financial has a net margin of 15.36% compared to Bank of Montreal's net margin of 9.22%. Synchrony Financial's return on equity of 18.30% beat Bank of Montreal's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Synchrony Financial	15.36%	18.30%	2.23%
Bank of Montreal	9.22%	10.18%	0.54%

Is SYF or BMO a better dividend stock?

Synchrony Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Bank of Montreal pays an annual dividend of $4.41 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Synchrony Financial pays out 16.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of Montreal pays out 57.3% 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.

Does the media prefer SYF or BMO?

In the previous week, Synchrony Financial had 15 more articles in the media than Bank of Montreal. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Synchrony Financial and 12 mentions for Bank of Montreal. Synchrony Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.06 beat Bank of Montreal's score of 0.87 indicating that Synchrony Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Synchrony Financial	17 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Bank of Montreal	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, SYF or BMO?

Synchrony Financial has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of Montreal has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Synchrony Financial beats Bank of Montreal on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.