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
Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) and East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment and profitability.
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.
In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 11 more articles in the media than Western Alliance Bancorporation. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for East West Bancorp and 9 mentions for Western Alliance Bancorporation. Western Alliance Bancorporation's average media sentiment score of 1.63 beat East West Bancorp's score of 1.40 indicating that Western Alliance Bancorporation is being referred to more favorably in the media.
79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Western Alliance Bancorporation presently has a consensus target price of $96.62, suggesting a potential upside of 15.05%. East West Bancorp has a consensus target price of $114.15, suggesting a potential upside of 10.56%. Given Western Alliance Bancorporation's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Western Alliance Bancorporation is more favorable than East West Bancorp.
Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. East West Bancorp pays out 28.0% 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. Western Alliance Bancorporation has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and East West Bancorp has increased its dividend for 8 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 lower revenue, but higher earnings 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.
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 8/15/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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