Cathay General Bancorp (CATY) Competitors

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) and Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and community ranking.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CATY or AUB?

Cathay General Bancorp received 308 more outperform votes than Atlantic Union Bankshares when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.63% of users gave Atlantic Union Bankshares an outperform vote while only 58.02% of users gave Cathay General Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cathay General Bancorp	Outperform Votes 329 58.02%	Underperform Votes 238 41.98%
Atlantic Union Bankshares	Outperform Votes 21 65.63%	Underperform Votes 11 34.38%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in CATY or AUB?

75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 4.8% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CATY or AUB more profitable?

Cathay General Bancorp has a net margin of 20.57% compared to Atlantic Union Bankshares' net margin of 16.25%. Cathay General Bancorp's return on equity of 11.30% beat Atlantic Union Bankshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cathay General Bancorp	20.57%	11.30%	1.35%
Atlantic Union Bankshares	16.25%	8.85%	1.09%

Is CATY or AUB a better dividend stock?

Cathay General Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Cathay General Bancorp pays out 34.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 56.4% 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. Atlantic Union Bankshares has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Atlantic Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, CATY or AUB?

Cathay General Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Atlantic Union Bankshares. Cathay General Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atlantic Union Bankshares, 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
Cathay General Bancorp	$1.31B	2.81	$354.12M	$3.97	13.04
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$777.34M	4.91	$201.82M	$2.41	17.63

Does the media prefer CATY or AUB?

In the previous week, Cathay General Bancorp had 4 more articles in the media than Atlantic Union Bankshares. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Cathay General Bancorp and 3 mentions for Atlantic Union Bankshares. Cathay General Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Atlantic Union Bankshares' score of 1.01 indicating that Cathay General Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cathay General Bancorp	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Atlantic Union Bankshares	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, CATY or AUB?

Cathay General Bancorp has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend CATY or AUB?

Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential downside of 15.03%. Atlantic Union Bankshares has a consensus target price of $40.40, suggesting a potential downside of 4.90%. Given Atlantic Union Bankshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Atlantic Union Bankshares is more favorable than Cathay General Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cathay General Bancorp	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Summary

Cathay General Bancorp beats Atlantic Union Bankshares on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.