Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) Competitors

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) and M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership, community ranking and valuation.

Is WAL or MTB more profitable?

M&T Bank has a net margin of 19.24% compared to Western Alliance Bancorporation's net margin of 14.66%. Western Alliance Bancorporation's return on equity of 13.16% beat M&T Bank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Western Alliance Bancorporation	14.66%	13.16%	1.03%
M&T Bank	19.24%	10.12%	1.25%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WAL or MTB?

Western Alliance Bancorporation received 281 more outperform votes than M&T Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.13% of users gave Western Alliance Bancorporation an outperform vote while only 45.93% of users gave M&T Bank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Western Alliance Bancorporation	Outperform Votes 529 66.13%	Underperform Votes 271 33.88%
M&T Bank	Outperform Votes 248 45.93%	Underperform Votes 292 54.07%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in WAL or MTB?

79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.7% of M&T Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of M&T Bank shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, WAL or MTB?

Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.46, meaning that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, M&T Bank has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend WAL or MTB?

Western Alliance Bancorporation currently has a consensus price target of $94.31, indicating a potential upside of 3.18%. M&T Bank has a consensus price target of $221.68, indicating a potential upside of 12.55%. Given M&T Bank's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe M&T Bank is more favorable than Western Alliance Bancorporation.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Western Alliance Bancorporation	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94
M&T Bank	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.41

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, WAL or MTB?

M&T Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Western Alliance Bancorporation. M&T Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Western Alliance Bancorporation, 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
Western Alliance Bancorporation	$3.01B	3.34	$722.40M	$6.48	14.11
M&T Bank	$13.45B	2.43	$2.59B	$14.63	13.46

Is WAL or MTB a better dividend stock?

Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. M&T Bank pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 23.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. M&T Bank pays out 36.9% 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.

Does the media prefer WAL or MTB?

In the previous week, M&T Bank had 32 more articles in the media than Western Alliance Bancorporation. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for M&T Bank and 4 mentions for Western Alliance Bancorporation. M&T Bank's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Western Alliance Bancorporation's score of 0.95 indicating that M&T Bank is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Western Alliance Bancorporation	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
M&T Bank	15 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Western Alliance Bancorporation and M&T Bank tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.