Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) Competitors

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, media sentiment, community ranking, dividends and earnings.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MTB or WAL?

Western Alliance Bancorporation received 282 more outperform votes than M&T Bank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.17% of users gave Western Alliance Bancorporation an outperform vote while only 45.90% of users gave M&T Bank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
M&T Bank	Outperform Votes 246 45.90%	Underperform Votes 290 54.10%
Western Alliance Bancorporation	Outperform Votes 528 66.17%	Underperform Votes 270 33.83%

Is MTB or WAL more profitable?

M&T Bank has a net margin of 17.82% compared to Western Alliance Bancorporation's net margin of 14.66%. Western Alliance Bancorporation's return on equity of 13.16% beat M&T Bank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
M&T Bank	17.82%	9.52%	1.15%
Western Alliance Bancorporation	14.66%	13.16%	1.03%

Do analysts rate MTB or WAL?

M&T Bank presently has a consensus price target of $211.58, indicating a potential upside of 7.86%. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a consensus price target of $94.75, indicating a potential upside of 7.34%. Given M&T Bank's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe M&T Bank is more favorable than Western Alliance Bancorporation.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
M&T Bank	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.35
Western Alliance Bancorporation	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94

Is MTB or WAL a better dividend stock?

M&T Bank pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. M&T Bank pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 23.5% 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.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of MTB or WAL?

84.7% of M&T Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of M&T Bank shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor MTB or WAL?

In the previous week, Western Alliance Bancorporation had 6 more articles in the media than M&T Bank. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Western Alliance Bancorporation and 12 mentions for M&T Bank. M&T Bank's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Western Alliance Bancorporation's score of 1.04 indicating that M&T Bank is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
M&T Bank	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Western Alliance Bancorporation	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, MTB or WAL?

M&T Bank has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings & valuation, MTB or WAL?

M&T Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Western Alliance Bancorporation. Western Alliance Bancorporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than M&T Bank, 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
M&T Bank	$9.17B	3.55	$2.74B	$13.51	14.52
Western Alliance Bancorporation	$2.30B	4.23	$722.40M	$6.48	13.62

Summary

M&T Bank and Western Alliance Bancorporation tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.