United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) & ICICI Bank (NYSE:IBN) Head to Head Comparison

ICICI Bank (NYSE:IBN) and United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for ICICI Bank and United Community Banks, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ICICI Bank	0	2	1	1	2.75
United Community Banks	0	3	4	1	2.75

United Community Banks has a consensus price target of $39.60, suggesting a potential upside of 16.78%. Given United Community Banks’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than ICICI Bank.

Dividends

ICICI Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. ICICI Bank pays out 13.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Community Banks pays out 34.2% 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.

Profitability

This table compares ICICI Bank and United Community Banks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ICICI Bank	25.60%	13.81%	1.82%
United Community Banks	24.43%	9.61%	1.24%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ICICI Bank and United Community Banks”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ICICI Bank	$22.73 billion	4.40	$6.13 billion	$1.58	17.64
United Community Banks	$1.54 billion	2.66	$328.10 million	$3.04	11.15

ICICI Bank has higher revenue and earnings than United Community Banks. United Community Banks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ICICI Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

18.2% of ICICI Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Community Banks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

ICICI Bank has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ICICI Bank beats United Community Banks on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank Limited provides various banking products and services in India and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, Treasury, Other Banking, Life Insurance, and Others segments. The company offers savings, salary, pension, current, and other accounts; and time, fixed, recurring, and security deposits services. It also provides home, car, two-wheeler, personal, gold, and commercial business loans, as well as loans against securities and other loans; business loans, including working capital finance, term loans, collateral free loans, loans without financials, finance for importers and exporters, and overdraft facilities, as well as loans for new entities and card swipes; and credit, debit, prepaid, travel, forex, and corporate cards. In addition, the company offers pockets wallet; fixed income products; investment products, such as mutual funds, gold monetization schemes, initial public offerings, and other online investment services; and agri and rural business, farmer finance, tractor loans, and micro banking services, as well as other services to agri corporates. Further, it provides portfolio management, trade, foreign exchange, locker, private and NRI banking, and cash management services; family wealth and demat accounts; commercial and investment banking, capital market, custodial, and institutional banking services; health, personal accident, fire, and motor insurance, as well as distributes general and life insurance products; and Internet, mobile, and phone banking services. Additionally, the company offers securities investment, broking, trading, and underwriting services; and merchant banking, trusteeship, housing finance, pension fund management, asset management, investment advisory, points of presence, and private equity/venture capital fund management services. ICICI Bank Limited was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. It also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, the company originate loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, it provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, the company offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. It operates through a network of 171 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. United Community Banks, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.