Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) versus Societe Generale Group (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) Head-To-Head Survey

Societe Generale Group (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) and Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Societe Generale Group and Westamerica Bancorporation, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Societe Generale Group	0	5	3	1	2.56
Westamerica Bancorporation	0	1	1	0	2.50

Westamerica Bancorporation has a consensus target price of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.03%. Given Westamerica Bancorporation’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Westamerica Bancorporation is more favorable than Societe Generale Group.

Profitability

This table compares Societe Generale Group and Westamerica Bancorporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Societe Generale Group	24.17%	7.57%	0.38%
Westamerica Bancorporation	41.63%	12.80%	1.89%

Dividends

Societe Generale Group pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Westamerica Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Societe Generale Group pays out 11.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Westamerica Bancorporation pays out 41.4% 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. Westamerica Bancorporation has raised its dividend for 34 consecutive years. Westamerica Bancorporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Societe Generale Group has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westamerica Bancorporation has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Societe Generale Group and Westamerica Bancorporation”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Societe Generale Group	$30.83 billion	1.63	$6.79 billion	$1.94	7.02
Westamerica Bancorporation	$252.21 million	5.56	$116.17 million	$4.64	13.09

Societe Generale Group has higher revenue and earnings than Westamerica Bancorporation. Societe Generale Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Westamerica Bancorporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.0% of Societe Generale Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Westamerica Bancorporation beats Societe Generale Group on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Societe Generale Group

Société Générale Société anonyme provides banking and financial services to individuals, corporates, and institutional clients in Europe and internationally. It operates through French Retail Banking, International Retail Banking & Financial Services, and Global Banking and Investor Solutions. It offers retail banking services, such as consumer credit, vehicle leasing and fleet management, online banking, wealth management, and equipment and vendor finance services; and insurance products, including home, vehicle, family, health, and mortgage insurance. The company also provides corporate and investment banking, securities, business consulting, consumer finance, advisory and financing, and asset management and private banking services. In addition, it offers brokerage, cash management, payment, factoring/reverse factoring, export financing, trade finance, cash clearing and correspondent banking, and receivables and supply chain financing services. Société Générale Société anonyme was incorporated in 1864 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

About Westamerica Bancorporation

Westamerica Bancorporation operates as a bank holding company for the Westamerica Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and commercial customers. The company accepts various deposit products, including retail savings and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio includes commercial, commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, and consumer installment loans, as well as indirect automobile loans. The company was formerly known as Independent Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Westamerica Bancorporation in 1983. The company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in San Rafael, California.