Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) Competitors

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) and Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) are both mid-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.

Which has more risk and volatility, WAL or CBSH?

Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Commerce Bancshares has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, WAL or CBSH?

Western Alliance Bancorporation has higher revenue and earnings than Commerce Bancshares. Western Alliance Bancorporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Commerce Bancshares, 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	$4.32B	1.67	$722.40M	$6.86	9.53
Commerce Bancshares	$1.95B	3.75	$477.06M	$3.59	15.77

Is WAL or CBSH a better dividend stock?

Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Commerce Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 21.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Commerce Bancshares pays out 30.1% 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is WAL or CBSH more profitable?

Commerce Bancshares has a net margin of 23.33% compared to Western Alliance Bancorporation's net margin of 16.50%. Commerce Bancshares' return on equity of 16.78% beat Western Alliance Bancorporation's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Western Alliance Bancorporation	16.50%	14.77%	1.16%
Commerce Bancshares	23.33%	16.78%	1.49%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of WAL or CBSH?

79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of Commerce Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Commerce Bancshares 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 MarketBeat Community favor WAL or CBSH?

Western Alliance Bancorporation received 213 more outperform votes than Commerce Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.41% of users gave Western Alliance Bancorporation an outperform vote while only 45.67% of users gave Commerce Bancshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Western Alliance Bancorporation	Outperform Votes 508 66.41%	Underperform Votes 257 33.59%
Commerce Bancshares	Outperform Votes 295 45.67%	Underperform Votes 351 54.33%

Do analysts rate WAL or CBSH?

Western Alliance Bancorporation presently has a consensus price target of $72.47, suggesting a potential upside of 10.81%. Commerce Bancshares has a consensus price target of $55.29, suggesting a potential downside of 2.44%. Given Western Alliance Bancorporation's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Western Alliance Bancorporation is more favorable than Commerce Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Western Alliance Bancorporation	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Commerce Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17

Does the media favor WAL or CBSH?

In the previous week, Western Alliance Bancorporation had 2 more articles in the media than Commerce Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Western Alliance Bancorporation and 5 mentions for Commerce Bancshares. Commerce Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat Western Alliance Bancorporation's score of 0.50 indicating that Commerce Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Western Alliance Bancorporation	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Commerce Bancshares	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Western Alliance Bancorporation beats Commerce Bancshares on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.