UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) & Bank of Communications (OTCMKTS:BCMXY) Critical Comparison

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) and Bank of Communications (OTCMKTS:BCMXY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares UBS Group and Bank of Communications”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UBS Group	$84.56 billion	1.28	$5.09 billion	$1.51	22.35
Bank of Communications	$75.42 billion	0.79	$13.02 billion	$4.02	5.01

Bank of Communications has lower revenue, but higher earnings than UBS Group. Bank of Communications is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than UBS Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for UBS Group and Bank of Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UBS Group	2	3	5	1	2.45
Bank of Communications	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

This table compares UBS Group and Bank of Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UBS Group	7.13%	5.82%	0.32%
Bank of Communications	17.61%	8.23%	0.64%

Risk & Volatility

UBS Group has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of Communications has a beta of -0.14, suggesting that its stock price is 114% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

UBS Group pays an annual dividend of $0.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Bank of Communications pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. UBS Group pays out 15.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of Communications pays out 27.4% 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. UBS Group has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Summary

UBS Group beats Bank of Communications on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UBS Group

UBS Group AG provides financial advice and solutions to private, institutional, and corporate clients worldwide. It operates through five divisions: Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management, Investment Bank, and Non-core and Legacy. The company offers investment advice, estate and wealth planning, investing, corporate and banking, and investment management, as well as mortgage, securities-based, and structured lending solutions. It also provides personal banking products and services, such as deposits, credit and debit cards, and online and mobile banking, as well as lending, investments, retirement, and wealth management services; and corporate and institutional solutions, including equity and debt capital markets, syndicated and structured credit, private placements, leasing, traditional financing, and transaction banking solutions for payment and cash management services, trade and export finance, and global custody solutions. In addition, the company offers equities, fixed income, hedge funds, real estate and private markets, indexed and alternative beta strategies, asset allocation and currency investment strategies, customized multi-asset solutions, advisory and fiduciary services, and multi-manager hedge fund solutions and advisory services. Further, it advises clients on strategic business opportunities and helps them raise capital to fund their activities; enables its clients to buy, sell, and finance securities on capital markets and to manage their risks and liquidity; distributes, trades in, finances, and clears cash equities and equity-linked products; structures, originates, and distributes new equity and equity-linked issues; and originates, distributes, manages risk, and provides liquidity in foreign exchange, rates, credit and precious metals. The company was formerly known as UBS AG and changed its name to UBS Group AG in December 2014. UBS Group AG was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

About Bank of Communications

Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. provides commercial banking products and services in China. The company offers savings deposit products, including demand deposits, lump-sum deposits and withdrawal, time deposit of small savings for lump-sum withdrawal, interest withdrawal on principal deposited, time-demand deposit, call deposit, swap management, and education deposit; personal certificate of deposit; salary financing A; and foreign currency deposit. It also provides credit, quasi-credit, and debit cards; new housing and second-hand mortgage loans and unsecured personal loans; personal wealth management advisor services; and precious metal and commodity trading services. In addition, the company offers corporate structured deposit and corporate certificate of deposit; corporate cash management; industrial chain finance program comprising prepayment financing, inventory financing, accounts receivable financing and accounts payable financing; syndicated loans; corporation overdraft; investment banking services; and offshore banking services, such as repayment financing, inventory financing, accounts receivable financing and accounts payable financing, and forex currencies. Further, it provides bond account activation, bond distribution, and transaction services; related bond escrow and settlement, pledge registration, and principal and interest payment services; training and consulting services for cooperative banks; cross-border inter-bank payments system services; consignment sales of precious metal products; bond underwriting distribution; third party bond depository services; bank derivatives transfer; b-share transfer; bankfutures transfer; standard warehouse warrant pledged financing; institutional investment consulting, wealth management, and insurance services; and clearing and settlement services for future markets. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.