American Express (AXP) Competitors

American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, risk, profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings and media sentiment.

Which has more risk and volatility, AXP or COF?

American Express has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital One Financial has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AXP or COF?

84.3% of American Express shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.8% of Capital One Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Express shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Capital One Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AXP or COF a better dividend stock?

American Express pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Capital One Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. American Express pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital One Financial pays out 20.7% 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.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, AXP or COF?

American Express has higher revenue and earnings than Capital One Financial. Capital One Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Express, 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
American Express	$65.95B	3.14	$10.13B	$14.01	21.07
Capital One Financial	$53.94B	1.42	$4.75B	$11.59	17.29

Does the media prefer AXP or COF?

In the previous week, American Express had 16 more articles in the media than Capital One Financial. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for American Express and 43 mentions for Capital One Financial. American Express' average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat Capital One Financial's score of 0.87 indicating that American Express is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Express	51 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Capital One Financial	23 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer AXP or COF?

American Express currently has a consensus price target of $296.38, indicating a potential upside of 0.39%. Capital One Financial has a consensus price target of $198.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.94%. Given American Express' higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe American Express is more favorable than Capital One Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Express	3 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
Capital One Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AXP or COF?

Capital One Financial received 73 more outperform votes than American Express when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.76% of users gave Capital One Financial an outperform vote while only 59.95% of users gave American Express an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
American Express	Outperform Votes 1193 59.95%	Underperform Votes 797 40.05%
Capital One Financial	Outperform Votes 1266 64.76%	Underperform Votes 689 35.24%

Is AXP or COF more profitable?

American Express has a net margin of 15.36% compared to Capital One Financial's net margin of 9.46%. American Express' return on equity of 32.65% beat Capital One Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Express	15.36%	32.65%	3.56%
Capital One Financial	9.46%	9.45%	1.17%

Summary

American Express beats Capital One Financial on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.