Analyzing Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) & First Us Bancsh (NASDAQ:FUSB)

First Us Bancsh (NASDAQ:FUSB) and Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

18.7% of First Us Bancsh shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.2% of Banco De Chile shares are held by institutional investors. 12.1% of First Us Bancsh shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Banco De Chile shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for First Us Bancsh and Banco De Chile, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Us Bancsh	0	0	0	1	4.00
Banco De Chile	1	4	0	0	1.80

Banco De Chile has a consensus price target of $39.67, indicating a potential upside of 1.90%. Given Banco De Chile’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Banco De Chile is more favorable than First Us Bancsh.

Profitability

This table compares First Us Bancsh and Banco De Chile’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Us Bancsh	12.10%	7.41%	0.67%
Banco De Chile	31.01%	21.10%	2.26%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares First Us Bancsh and Banco De Chile”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Us Bancsh	$62.99 million	1.43	$5.99 million	$1.32	12.42
Banco De Chile	$3,109.91 billion	0.01	$1.30 billion	$2.64	14.75

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

Dividends

First Us Bancsh pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Banco De Chile pays an annual dividend of $1.65 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. First Us Bancsh pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco De Chile pays out 62.5% 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 Us Bancsh has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

First Us Bancsh has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco De Chile has a beta of 0.2, meaning that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Banco De Chile beats First Us Bancsh on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Us Bancsh

First US Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for First US Bank that provides commercial banking products and services. The company offers non-interest-bearing demand deposits, savings accounts, NOW accounts, money market demand accounts, individual retirement accounts, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial construction, land, and land development loans, including residential housing projects, commercial and industrial development, and for purchase and improvement of raw land for agricultural production; mortgage loans on one-to-four family and multi-family residential properties; real estate loans secured by commercial and industrial properties, office or mixed-use facilities, strip shopping centers, and other commercial properties; commercial and industrial loans and leases; and secured and unsecured personal loans, including automobile loans, loans for household and personal purposes, and other direct consumer installment loans. The company also provides loans secured by collateral in form of personal property items. In addition, it provides letters of credit; and safe deposit box and remote deposit capture services. The company serves small-and medium-sized businesses, property managers, business executives, professionals, and other individuals. The company was formerly known as United Security Bancshares, Inc. and changed its name to First US Bancshares, Inc. in October 2016. First US Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

About Banco De Chile

Banco de Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking services to customers in Chile. The company offers checking and debit accounts, debit and credit cards, and lines of credit; mortgage, consume, commercial, general purpose mortgage loans, and finance leases; and factoring services, mutual fund management, stock brokerage, foreign trade, payments and collections, insurance brokerage, including life and general insurance, as well as time deposits, savings instruments, and foreign currency services through branches under the Banco de Chile and Banco Edwards brands. It also provides working capital loans, corporate credit cards, foreign currency brokerage, leasing and long-term syndicated loans, advisory services for mergers acquisitions and debt restructuring; cash management services, including payment and collection services; and international fund transfer networks, current account and deposit products, fund administration, and treasury management. In addition, the company offers insurance brokerage, derivative contracts, transactional banking, financial risks coverage, representation and asset custody, investment banking and management, capital markets products, foreign exchange transactions; and advisory services for initial public offerings, capital increases, sales and purchases of blocks of shares, private capital placements, public share tenders, company valuations, bond issuances, and syndicated loans services. Further, it provides foreign exchange brokerage, forward contracts, interest rate swaps, repurchase agreements, and other investment products based on bonds, mortgage bonds and deposits. The company serves individuals, small and medium-sized companies, corporate clients, and large companies, real estate and construction, and high net worth family office customers. Banco de Chile was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.