Banco Santander (SAN) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in SAN or RY?

9.2% of Banco Santander shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.3% of Royal Bank of Canada shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.5% of Banco Santander shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SAN or RY?

Royal Bank of Canada received 172 more outperform votes than Banco Santander when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 55.19% of users gave Royal Bank of Canada an outperform vote while only 49.83% of users gave Banco Santander an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Banco Santander	Outperform Votes 573 49.83%	Underperform Votes 577 50.17%
Royal Bank of Canada	Outperform Votes 745 55.19%	Underperform Votes 605 44.81%

Does the media prefer SAN or RY?

In the previous week, Royal Bank of Canada had 8 more articles in the media than Banco Santander. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Royal Bank of Canada and 10 mentions for Banco Santander. Royal Bank of Canada's average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat Banco Santander's score of 0.34 indicating that Royal Bank of Canada is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Banco Santander	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
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

Do analysts rate SAN or RY?

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

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Santander	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.50
Royal Bank of Canada	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88

Is SAN or RY more profitable?

Banco Santander has a net margin of 15.76% compared to Royal Bank of Canada's net margin of 12.28%. Royal Bank of Canada's return on equity of 15.17% beat Banco Santander's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Santander	15.76%	11.70%	0.68%
Royal Bank of Canada	12.28%	15.17%	0.84%

Is SAN or RY a better dividend stock?

Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Royal Bank of Canada pays an annual dividend of $4.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Banco Santander pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Royal Bank of Canada pays out 50.8% 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.

Which has better valuation & earnings, SAN or RY?

Banco Santander has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Royal Bank of Canada. Banco Santander 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
Banco Santander	$62.14B	1.21	$11.99B	$0.80	5.95
Royal Bank of Canada	$87.48B	1.97	$11.02B	$8.27	14.73

Which has more volatility & risk, SAN or RY?

Banco Santander has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Royal Bank of Canada has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Royal Bank of Canada beats Banco Santander on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.