U.S. Bancorp (USB) Competitors

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

Is USB or WFC more profitable?

Wells Fargo & Company has a net margin of 15.73% compared to U.S. Bancorp's net margin of 14.75%. U.S. Bancorp's return on equity of 12.94% beat Wells Fargo & Company's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Bancorp	14.75%	12.94%	0.97%
Wells Fargo & Company	15.73%	12.38%	1.04%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, USB or WFC?

Wells Fargo & Company has higher revenue and earnings than U.S. Bancorp. U.S. Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wells Fargo & Company, 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	1.72	$6.30B	$3.79	12.46
Wells Fargo & Company	$125.40B	2.14	$19.72B	$5.38	15.01

Do analysts rate USB or WFC?

U.S. Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $54.21, suggesting a potential upside of 14.81%. Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus price target of $73.39, suggesting a potential downside of 9.12%. Given U.S. Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe U.S. Bancorp is more favorable than Wells Fargo & Company.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55
Wells Fargo & Company	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the MarketBeat Community favor USB or WFC?

Wells Fargo & Company received 801 more outperform votes than U.S. Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.75% of users gave Wells Fargo & Company an outperform vote while only 57.69% of users gave U.S. Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
U.S. Bancorp	Outperform Votes 784 57.69%	Underperform Votes 575 42.31%
Wells Fargo & Company	Outperform Votes 1585 61.75%	Underperform Votes 982 38.25%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of USB or WFC?

77.6% of U.S. Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.9% of Wells Fargo & Company shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of U.S. Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Wells Fargo & Company shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor USB or WFC?

In the previous week, Wells Fargo & Company had 32 more articles in the media than U.S. Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 75 mentions for Wells Fargo & Company and 43 mentions for U.S. Bancorp. Wells Fargo & Company's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat U.S. Bancorp's score of 0.85 indicating that Wells Fargo & Company is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
U.S. Bancorp	29 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Wells Fargo & Company	53 Very Positive mention(s)	14 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is USB or WFC a better dividend stock?

U.S. Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Wells Fargo & Company pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. U.S. Bancorp pays out 52.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wells Fargo & Company pays out 29.7% 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. U.S. Bancorp has increased its dividend for 15 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 risk and volatility, USB or WFC?

U.S. Bancorp has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wells Fargo & Company has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Wells Fargo & Company beats U.S. Bancorp on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.