Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP – Get Free Report) and First United (NASDAQ:FUNC – Get Free Report) 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, dividends and earnings.
Risk and Volatility
Popular has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First United has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Popular and First United, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Popular | 0 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 3.08 |
| First United | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
87.3% of Popular shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.3% of First United shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Popular shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of First United shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Popular and First United’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Popular | 21.37% | 15.34% | 1.26% |
| First United | 20.05% | 13.69% | 1.36% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Popular and First United”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Popular | $4.44 billion | 2.46 | $833.16 million | $14.80 | 11.58 |
| First United | $121.42 million | 2.36 | $24.51 million | $3.86 | 11.49 |
Popular has higher revenue and earnings than First United. First United is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Popular, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Popular pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. First United pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Popular pays out 20.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First United pays out 26.9% 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. Popular has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and First United has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.
Summary
Popular beats First United on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Popular
Popular, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various retail, mortgage, and commercial banking products and services in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the British Virgin Islands. The company provides savings, NOW, money market, and other interest-bearing demand accounts; non-interest bearing demand deposits; and certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial and industrial, commercial multi-family, commercial real estate, and residential mortgage loans; consumer loans, including personal loans, credit cards, automobile loans, home equity lines of credit, and other loans to individual borrowers; construction loans; and lease financing comprising automobile loans/leases. In addition, the company provides investment banking, auto and equipment leasing and financing, broker-dealer, and insurance services; debit cards; and online banking services. Popular, Inc. was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
About First United
First United Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First United Bank & Trust that provides various retail and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, which includes checking, savings, money market deposit, and regular and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), as well as certificates of deposit. The company loan portfolio includes commercial loans secured by real estate, commercial equipment, vehicles, or other assets of the borrower; commercial real estate loans for residential and commercial development, agricultural purpose properties, and service industry buildings, such as restaurants and motels, retail buildings, and general purpose business space; residential mortgage loans; home equity lines of credit; residential real estate construction loans; and indirect and direct auto loans, student loans, and other secured and unsecured lines of credit and term loans. It also offers access to multi-million-dollar certificates of deposit and the Intrafi cash service, including multi-million-dollar savings and demand deposits to municipalities, businesses, and consumers; and treasury management, cash sweep, and various checking services. In addition, the company provides trust services, which includes personal trust, investment agency accounts, charitable trusts, retirement accounts, including IRA roll-overs, 401(k) accounts and defined benefit plans, estate administration, and estate planning; and insurance products, brokerage services, and safe deposit and night depository facilities. First United Corporation was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Oakland, Maryland.
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