WAL vs. EWBC, FITB, HBAN, OBK, ZION, CFG, CMA, KEY, TFC, and WBS
Should you be buying Western Alliance Bancorporation stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Western Alliance Bancorporation include East West Bancorp (EWBC), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), Origin Bancorp (OBK), Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (ZION), Citizens Financial Group (CFG), Comerica (CMA), KeyCorp (KEY), Truist Financial (TFC), and Webster Financial (WBS). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Western Alliance Bancorporation vs. Its Competitors
East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.
East West Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Western Alliance Bancorporation. Western Alliance Bancorporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than East West Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 3 more articles in the media than Western Alliance Bancorporation. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for East West Bancorp and 13 mentions for Western Alliance Bancorporation. Western Alliance Bancorporation's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat East West Bancorp's score of 1.07 indicating that Western Alliance Bancorporation is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
East West Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $114.15, suggesting a potential upside of 6.90%. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a consensus price target of $97.79, suggesting a potential upside of 7.90%. Given Western Alliance Bancorporation's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Western Alliance Bancorporation is more favorable than East West Bancorp.
89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. East West Bancorp pays out 28.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 20.0% 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. East West Bancorp has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and Western Alliance Bancorporation has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. East West Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
East West Bancorp has a net margin of 26.06% compared to Western Alliance Bancorporation's net margin of 16.39%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 15.09% beat Western Alliance Bancorporation's return on equity.
Summary
East West Bancorp beats Western Alliance Bancorporation on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WAL and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Western Alliance Bancorporation Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:WAL) was last updated on 9/4/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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