Comparing Banco Comercial Portugues (OTCMKTS:BPCGY) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Banco Comercial Portugues (OTCMKTS:BPCGY) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Banco Comercial Portugues has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Banco Comercial Portugues and First Busey”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Comercial Portugues	$5.82 billion	3.51	$980.79 million	$0.91	15.16
First Busey	$1.04 billion	2.29	$135.26 million	$2.42	11.96

Banco Comercial Portugues has higher revenue and earnings than First Busey. First Busey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco Comercial Portugues, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Banco Comercial Portugues pays an annual dividend of $0.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Banco Comercial Portugues pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey pays out 43.0% 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. First Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. First Busey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Banco Comercial Portugues and First Busey, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Comercial Portugues	0	1	0	1	3.00
First Busey	0	4	3	0	2.43

First Busey has a consensus price target of $31.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.08%. Given First Busey’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than Banco Comercial Portugues.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of First Busey shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Comercial Portugues and First Busey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Comercial Portugues	N/A	N/A	N/A
First Busey	21.00%	10.48%	1.40%

Summary

First Busey beats Banco Comercial Portugues on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Banco Comercial Portugues

Banco Comercial Português, S.A., a private sector bank, engages in the provision of various banking and financial products and services in Portugal and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking; Companies, Corporate & Investment Banking; Private Banking; Foreign Business; and Other segments. It offers a range of financial products and services, including current accounts, payment systems, savings and investment products, private banking, asset management, and investment banking services, such as mortgage loans, personal loans, commercial banking, leasing, factoring and insurance, and others. The company is also involved in the provision of investment fund and real estate management, e-commerce, web portal, real estate investment fund, trade finance, trust, consulting, brokerage, marketing, and real estate services, as well as internet, telephone, and mobile banking services. Banco Comercial Português, S.A. was incorporated in 1985 and is based in Porto, Portugal.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech. The Banking segment provides banking services to individual customers, such as demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement accounts and other fiduciary services, automated teller machines, and technology-based networks, as well as loan products, including residential real estate, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. This segment also offers banking services to corporate customers, including commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, and agricultural loans, as well as cash management services. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of investment and asset management, investment, brokerage, investment strategy consulting, fiduciary, philanthropic advisory, tax preparation, business succession planning, and employee retirement plan services to individuals, businesses, and foundations; and professional farm management services to the agricultural industry. The FirsTech segment provides payment technology solutions comprising online, mobile, and voice-recognition bill payments; money management and credit card networks; direct debit services; lockbox remittance processing for payments made by mail; and walk-in payments, as well as tools to help clients with billing, reconciliation, bill reminders, and treasury services. The company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.