East West Bancorp (EWBC) Competitors

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) and East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in MTB or EWBC?

84.7% of M&T Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of M&T Bank shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate MTB or EWBC?

M&T Bank currently has a consensus target price of $221.68, suggesting a potential upside of 11.82%. East West Bancorp has a consensus target price of $109.77, suggesting a potential upside of 6.66%. Given M&T Bank's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe M&T Bank is more favorable than East West Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
M&T Bank	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.41
East West Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.77

Is MTB or EWBC more profitable?

East West Bancorp has a net margin of 24.96% compared to M&T Bank's net margin of 19.24%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 16.07% beat M&T Bank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
M&T Bank	19.24%	10.12%	1.25%
East West Bancorp	24.96%	16.07%	1.61%

Does the media prefer MTB or EWBC?

In the previous week, M&T Bank had 38 more articles in the media than East West Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 46 mentions for M&T Bank and 8 mentions for East West Bancorp. East West Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat M&T Bank's score of 0.83 indicating that East West Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
M&T Bank	17 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
East West Bancorp	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, MTB or EWBC?

M&T Bank has higher revenue and earnings than East West Bancorp. East West Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than M&T Bank, 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
M&T Bank	$9.28B	3.54	$2.59B	$14.63	13.55
East West Bancorp	$3.99B	3.58	$1.16B	$7.92	12.99

Is MTB or EWBC a better dividend stock?

M&T Bank pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. M&T Bank pays out 36.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. East West Bancorp pays out 27.8% 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 MarketBeat Community believe in MTB or EWBC?

East West Bancorp received 310 more outperform votes than M&T Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.11% of users gave East West Bancorp an outperform vote while only 45.93% of users gave M&T Bank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
M&T Bank	Outperform Votes 248 45.93%	Underperform Votes 292 54.07%
East West Bancorp	Outperform Votes 558 65.11%	Underperform Votes 299 34.89%

Which has more volatility & risk, MTB or EWBC?

M&T Bank has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

East West Bancorp beats M&T Bank on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.