Financial Comparison: BNP Paribas (OTCMKTS:BNPQY) vs. First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)

BNP Paribas (OTCMKTS:BNPQY) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for BNP Paribas and First Busey, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BNP Paribas	0	4	3	1	2.62
First Busey	0	3	4	0	2.57

First Busey has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.71%. Given First Busey’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe First Busey is more favorable than BNP Paribas.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BNP Paribas and First Busey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BNP Paribas	$57.94 billion	2.22	$13.83 billion	$6.75	8.63
First Busey	$1.04 billion	2.35	$135.26 million	$2.42	12.28

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

Profitability

This table compares BNP Paribas and First Busey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BNP Paribas	25.22%	10.32%	0.48%
First Busey	21.00%	10.48%	1.40%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.2% of BNP Paribas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of First Busey shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

BNP Paribas has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

BNP Paribas pays an annual dividend of $2.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. BNP Paribas pays out 32.4% 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 increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. BNP Paribas is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

About BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas SA provides various banking and financial products and services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three divisions: Corporate & Institutional Banking; Commercial, Personal Banking & Services; and Investment & Protection Services. The Corporate & Institutional Banking division offers capital market, securities, investment banking, financing, risk management, cash management, and financial advisory services for corporate clients and institutional investors. The Commercial, Personal Banking & Services division provides financing and equipment leasing services, mobility, and digital banking services, as well as current accounts, savings products, bancassurance, insurance products and services, and consumer loans. The Investment & Protection Services division provides protection, savings, investment, and real estate services to support individuals, professionals, corporate clients, and institutions. The company was formerly known as Banque Nationale de Paris and changed its name to BNP Paribas SA in May 2000. BNP Paribas SA was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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.