Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI – Get Free Report) and Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Profitability
This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Cathay General Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Glacier Bancorp | 17.52% | 7.11% | 0.85% |
| Cathay General Bancorp | 22.26% | 10.60% | 1.30% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Glacier Bancorp and Cathay General Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Glacier Bancorp | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Cathay General Bancorp | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Cathay General Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Glacier Bancorp | $921.82 million | 5.96 | $190.14 million | $2.04 | 20.74 |
| Cathay General Bancorp | $781.55 million | 4.22 | $285.98 million | $4.33 | 11.19 |
Cathay General Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Glacier Bancorp. Cathay General Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Glacier Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Cathay General Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 64.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cathay General Bancorp pays out 31.4% 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.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cathay General Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Cathay General Bancorp beats Glacier Bancorp on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Glacier Bancorp
Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. It offers non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot acquisition loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. In addition, it offers commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; paycheck protection program loans; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Further, the company provides mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It has 224 locations, including 188 branches and 36 loan or administration offices in 75 counties within 8 states comprising Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada. The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.
About Cathay General Bancorp
Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits. It also provides loan products, such as commercial mortgage loans, commercial loans, small business administration loans, residential mortgage loans, real estate construction loans, and home equity lines of credit, as well as installment loans to individuals for household, and other consumer expenditures. In addition, the company offers trade financing, letter of credit, wire transfer, forward currency spot and forward contract, safe deposit, collection, automatic teller machine, Internet banking, investment, and other customary bank services, as well as securities and insurance products. Cathay General Bancorp was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
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