Itaú Unibanco (ITUB) Competitors

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) and Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, community ranking and valuation.

Is RY or ITUB a better dividend stock?

Royal Bank of Canada pays an annual dividend of $4.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Itaú Unibanco pays an annual dividend of $0.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Royal Bank of Canada pays out 50.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Itaú Unibanco pays out 3.8% 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. Royal Bank of Canada has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Royal Bank of Canada is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of RY or ITUB?

45.3% of Royal Bank of Canada shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Itaú Unibanco shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer RY or ITUB?

Royal Bank of Canada received 313 more outperform votes than Itaú Unibanco when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.65% of users gave Itaú Unibanco an outperform vote while only 55.19% of users gave Royal Bank of Canada an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Royal Bank of Canada	Outperform Votes 745 55.19%	Underperform Votes 605 44.81%
Itaú Unibanco	Outperform Votes 432 65.65%	Underperform Votes 226 34.35%

Does the media favor RY or ITUB?

In the previous week, Royal Bank of Canada had 13 more articles in the media than Itaú Unibanco. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Royal Bank of Canada and 5 mentions for Itaú Unibanco. Itaú Unibanco's average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Royal Bank of Canada's score of 0.63 indicating that Itaú Unibanco is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Royal Bank of Canada	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Itaú Unibanco	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, RY or ITUB?

Royal Bank of Canada has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Itaú Unibanco. Itaú Unibanco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Royal Bank of Canada, 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
Royal Bank of Canada	$60.00B	2.87	$11.02B	$8.27	14.73
Itaú Unibanco	$156.52B	0.37	$6.63B	$0.78	7.64

Do analysts prefer RY or ITUB?

Royal Bank of Canada presently has a consensus price target of $142.50, indicating a potential upside of 17.00%. Itaú Unibanco has a consensus price target of $7.50, indicating a potential upside of 25.84%. Given Itaú Unibanco's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Itaú Unibanco is more favorable than Royal Bank of Canada.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Royal Bank of Canada	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
Itaú Unibanco	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Which has more risk and volatility, RY or ITUB?

Royal Bank of Canada has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Itaú Unibanco has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is RY or ITUB more profitable?

Itaú Unibanco has a net margin of 12.33% compared to Royal Bank of Canada's net margin of 12.28%. Itaú Unibanco's return on equity of 19.72% beat Royal Bank of Canada's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Royal Bank of Canada	12.28%	15.17%	0.84%
Itaú Unibanco	12.33%	19.72%	1.49%

Summary

Royal Bank of Canada beats Itaú Unibanco on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.