Mercantile Bank (MBWM) Competitors

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) and Mercantile Bank (NASDAQ:MBWM) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, community ranking, risk, media sentiment, profitability and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend BKU or MBWM?

BankUnited presently has a consensus price target of $41.36, suggesting a potential upside of 8.57%. Mercantile Bank has a consensus price target of $54.50, suggesting a potential upside of 19.96%. Given Mercantile Bank's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mercantile Bank is more favorable than BankUnited.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BankUnited	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.09
Mercantile Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has more volatility & risk, BKU or MBWM?

BankUnited has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercantile Bank has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation and earnings, BKU or MBWM?

BankUnited has higher revenue and earnings than Mercantile Bank. Mercantile Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BankUnited, 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
BankUnited	$983.26M	2.90	$178.67M	$2.44	15.61
Mercantile Bank	$229.89M	3.19	$82.22M	$4.98	9.12

Is BKU or MBWM a better dividend stock?

BankUnited pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Mercantile Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. BankUnited pays out 47.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mercantile Bank pays out 28.9% 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. Mercantile Bank has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Mercantile Bank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor BKU or MBWM?

BankUnited received 87 more outperform votes than Mercantile Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.90% of users gave Mercantile Bank an outperform vote while only 55.35% of users gave BankUnited an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
BankUnited	Outperform Votes 398 55.35%	Underperform Votes 321 44.65%
Mercantile Bank	Outperform Votes 311 58.90%	Underperform Votes 217 41.10%

Is BKU or MBWM more profitable?

Mercantile Bank has a net margin of 22.77% compared to BankUnited's net margin of 9.06%. Mercantile Bank's return on equity of 14.59% beat BankUnited's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BankUnited	9.06%	8.09%	0.61%
Mercantile Bank	22.77%	14.59%	1.43%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of BKU or MBWM?

99.7% of BankUnited shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.6% of Mercantile Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of BankUnited shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Mercantile Bank shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to BKU or MBWM?

In the previous week, BankUnited had 5 more articles in the media than Mercantile Bank. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for BankUnited and 2 mentions for Mercantile Bank. BankUnited's average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Mercantile Bank's score of 0.38 indicating that BankUnited is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
BankUnited	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Mercantile Bank	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Mercantile Bank beats BankUnited on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.