U.S. Bancorp (USB) Competitors

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Is BAC or USB a better dividend stock?

Bank of America pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. U.S. Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Bank of America pays out 30.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. U.S. Bancorp pays out 47.8% 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 and U.S. Bancorp has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. U.S. Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has better valuation & earnings, BAC or USB?

Bank of America has higher revenue and earnings than U.S. Bancorp. U.S. Bancorp 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	$3.42	14.29
U.S. Bancorp	$42.71B	1.70	$6.30B	$4.18	11.13

Do analysts recommend BAC or USB?

Bank of America presently has a consensus price target of $50.03, indicating a potential upside of 2.34%. U.S. Bancorp has a consensus price target of $52.50, indicating a potential upside of 12.84%. Given U.S. Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe U.S. Bancorp is more favorable than Bank of America.

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)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83
U.S. Bancorp	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media refer more to BAC or USB?

In the previous week, Bank of America had 31 more articles in the media than U.S. Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 104 mentions for Bank of America and 73 mentions for U.S. Bancorp. Bank of America's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat U.S. Bancorp's score of 0.90 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	63 Very Positive mention(s)	22 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
U.S. Bancorp	40 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, BAC or USB?

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

Is BAC or USB more profitable?

U.S. Bancorp has a net margin of 16.30% compared to Bank of America's net margin of 14.81%. U.S. Bancorp's return on equity of 13.08% 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%
U.S. Bancorp	16.30%	13.08%	1.02%

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

70.7% of Bank of America shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.6% of U.S. Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Bank of America shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of U.S. Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Bank of America beats U.S. Bancorp on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.