Financial Comparison: UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) vs. Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI)

UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) and Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares UniCredit and Shore Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UniCredit	35.89%	14.67%	1.08%
Shore Bancshares	5.82%	6.47%	0.59%

Volatility and Risk

UniCredit has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shore Bancshares has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

UniCredit pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Shore Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Shore Bancshares pays out 73.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.3% of UniCredit shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.8% of Shore Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.3% of Shore Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares UniCredit and Shore Bancshares’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UniCredit	$26.50 billion	2.31	$9.32 billion	N/A	N/A
Shore Bancshares	$247.24 million	1.35	$11.23 million	$0.65	15.51

UniCredit has higher revenue and earnings than Shore Bancshares.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for UniCredit and Shore Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UniCredit	0	0	0	0	N/A
Shore Bancshares	0	0	1	0	3.00

Shore Bancshares has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 58.73%. Given Shore Bancshares’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Shore Bancshares is more favorable than UniCredit.

Summary

UniCredit beats Shore Bancshares on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UniCredit

UniCredit S.p.A. provides commercial banking services in Italy, Germany, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe. It offers retail, private, and wealth management solutions; and institutional investor solutions. The company also provides corporate finance advisory, rating advisory, financial sponsor, patient capital, capital structure advisory, and finance solutions, as well as securities services. In addition, it offers transactional and risk management, and strategic advisory and funding services; group trade and correspondent banking services; and payments and cash management solutions. The company serves SME, corporate, multinational corporate, financial institution, and public sector clients, as well as retail, private banking, wealth management, and family office clients. The company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy.

About Shore Bancshares

Shore Bancshares, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for the Shore United Bank, N.A. that provides various commercial and consumer banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and other organizations. It offers checking, savings, overnight investment sweep, and money market accounts; and regular and IRA certificates of deposit, as well as CDARS programs and cash management services. The company also provides commercial loans, such as secured and unsecured loans, working capital loans, lines of credit, term loans, accounts receivable financing, real estate acquisition and development loans, construction loans, and letters of credit; residential real estate construction loans; residential mortgage loans; and loans to consumers, including home equity, automobile, installment, home improvement, and personal lines of credit, as well as other consumer financing products. In addition, it offers trust, asset management, and financial planning services; treasury management services, such as merchant card processing, remote deposit capture, and ACH origination, as well as telephone, mobile, and Internet banking services; safe deposit boxes; debit and credit cards; and automatic teller machine services. Shore Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Easton, Maryland.