Royal Bank of Canada (RY) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate RY or BAC?

Royal Bank of Canada currently has a consensus target price of $156.50, indicating a potential upside of 34.16%. Bank of America has a consensus target price of $48.45, indicating a potential upside of 12.18%. Given Royal Bank of Canada's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Royal Bank of Canada is more favorable than Bank of America.

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
Bank of America	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.84

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, RY or BAC?

Bank of America has higher revenue and earnings than Royal Bank of Canada. Royal Bank of Canada is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank of America, 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	$60.46B	2.72	$11.92B	$8.90	13.11
Bank of America	$101.89B	3.22	$27.13B	$3.22	13.41

Which has more volatility & risk, RY or BAC?

Royal Bank of Canada has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of America has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is RY or BAC more profitable?

Bank of America has a net margin of 14.10% compared to Royal Bank of Canada's net margin of 12.08%. Royal Bank of Canada's return on equity of 15.26% beat Bank of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Royal Bank of Canada	12.08%	15.26%	0.84%
Bank of America	14.10%	10.29%	0.84%

Does the media favor RY or BAC?

In the previous week, Bank of America had 95 more articles in the media than Royal Bank of Canada. MarketBeat recorded 115 mentions for Bank of America and 20 mentions for Royal Bank of Canada. Royal Bank of Canada's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Bank of America's score of 0.91 indicating that Royal Bank of Canada is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Royal Bank of Canada	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Bank of America	76 Very Positive mention(s)	11 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	13 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer RY or BAC?

Bank of America received 1285 more outperform votes than Royal Bank of Canada when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.77% of users gave Bank of America an outperform vote while only 53.98% of users gave Royal Bank of Canada an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Royal Bank of Canada	Outperform Votes 813 53.98%	Underperform Votes 693 46.02%
Bank of America	Outperform Votes 2098 64.77%	Underperform Votes 1141 35.23%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in RY or BAC?

45.3% of Royal Bank of Canada shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.7% of Bank of America shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Bank of America 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 RY or BAC a better dividend stock?

Royal Bank of Canada pays an annual dividend of $4.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Bank of America pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Royal Bank of Canada pays out 46.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of America pays out 32.3% 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 raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Bank of America has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Royal Bank of Canada is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Bank of America beats Royal Bank of Canada on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.