Barclays (BCS) Competitors

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) and HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Is BCS or HSBC a better dividend stock?

Barclays pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. HSBC pays an annual dividend of $1.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Barclays pays out 14.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. HSBC pays out 39.2% 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 stronger valuation & earnings, BCS or HSBC?

HSBC has higher revenue and earnings than Barclays. Barclays is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HSBC, 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
Barclays	$34.23B	2.10	$8.06B	$2.17	9.40
HSBC	$141.75B	1.60	$23.98B	$5.05	12.86

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of BCS or HSBC?

3.4% of Barclays shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.5% of HSBC shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Barclays shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of HSBC shares are held by company 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.

Do analysts recommend BCS or HSBC?

HSBC has a consensus price target of $63.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.97%. Given HSBC's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HSBC is more favorable than Barclays.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barclays	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83
HSBC	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Which has more volatility & risk, BCS or HSBC?

Barclays has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HSBC has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor BCS or HSBC?

In the previous week, Barclays had 37 more articles in the media than HSBC. MarketBeat recorded 60 mentions for Barclays and 23 mentions for HSBC. HSBC's average media sentiment score of 0.73 beat Barclays' score of 0.35 indicating that HSBC is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Barclays	16 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	22 Neutral mention(s)	13 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
HSBC	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is BCS or HSBC more profitable?

Barclays has a net margin of 22.11% compared to HSBC's net margin of 13.48%. HSBC's return on equity of 12.73% beat Barclays' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barclays	22.11%	8.49%	0.40%
HSBC	13.48%	12.73%	0.81%

Summary

Barclays and HSBC tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.