U.S. Bancorp (USB) Competitors

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, USB or BAC?

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
U.S. Bancorp	$42.71B	1.71	$6.30B	$4.18	11.21
Bank of America	$192.43B	1.84	$27.13B	$3.42	13.94

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

77.6% of U.S. Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.7% of Bank of America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of U.S. Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Bank of America shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is USB or BAC 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
U.S. Bancorp	16.30%	13.08%	1.02%
Bank of America	14.81%	10.25%	0.84%

Do analysts prefer USB or BAC?

U.S. Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $52.55, indicating a potential upside of 12.14%. Bank of America has a consensus price target of $50.13, indicating a potential upside of 5.14%. Given U.S. Bancorp's higher probable upside, research 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
U.S. Bancorp	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Bank of America	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.77

Is USB or BAC a better dividend stock?

U.S. Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Bank of America pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. U.S. Bancorp pays out 47.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of America pays out 30.4% 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. U.S. Bancorp has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Bank of America has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. U.S. Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, USB or BAC?

U.S. Bancorp has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of America has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer USB or BAC?

In the previous week, Bank of America had 66 more articles in the media than U.S. Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 105 mentions for Bank of America and 39 mentions for U.S. Bancorp. U.S. Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat Bank of America's score of 0.99 indicating that U.S. Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
U.S. Bancorp	35 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Bank of America	58 Very Positive mention(s)	20 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

U.S. Bancorp and Bank of America tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.