Comparing Credit Agricole (OTCMKTS:CRARY) and UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY)

UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) and Credit Agricole (OTCMKTS:CRARY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for UniCredit and Credit Agricole, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UniCredit	0	2	3	2	3.00
Credit Agricole	0	4	1	0	2.20

Profitability

This table compares UniCredit and Credit Agricole’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UniCredit	34.34%	20.22%	1.60%
Credit Agricole	24.36%	24.26%	0.88%

Risk & Volatility

UniCredit has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Credit Agricole has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares UniCredit and Credit Agricole”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UniCredit	$41.32 billion	3.36	$15.35 billion	N/A	N/A
Credit Agricole	$31.76 billion	1.93	$8.00 billion	$1.20	8.44

UniCredit has higher revenue and earnings than Credit Agricole.

Dividends

UniCredit pays an annual dividend of $1.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Credit Agricole pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Credit Agricole pays out 35.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.3% of UniCredit shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.6% of Credit Agricole shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

UniCredit beats Credit Agricole on 10 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 Credit Agricole

Crédit Agricole S.A. provides retail, corporate, insurance, and investment banking products and services in France and internationally. It operates through French Retail Banking Regional Banks; French Retail Banking – LCL; International Retail Banking; Asset Gathering; Large Customers; and Specialised Financial Services segments. The company offers banking products and services, finance, savings, wealth management, payment, and cash flow management services; consumer finance products; savings/retirement, death and disability/creditor/group, and property and casualty insurance products; investment solutions; and banking and specialized financial services. It also provides investment banking, structured finance, international trade finance, commercial banking, capital market, and syndication services; financing solutions for property and equipment investment and renewal requirements; trade receivable financing and management solutions for corporates; asset servicing solutions for investment products, as well as various asset classes, such as execution, clearing, forex, security lending and borrowing, custody, depositary bank, fund administration, middle-office outsourcing solutions, and fund distribution support and issuer services; and online banking services. The company serves retail customers, corporates, banks and financial institutions, government agencies, and local authorities. Crédit Agricole S.A. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Montrouge, France. Crédit Agricole S.A. operates as a subsidiary of SAS Rue La Boetie.