Comparing Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) & BNCCORP (OTCMKTS:BNCC)

BNCCORP (OTCMKTS:BNCC) and Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for BNCCORP and Wintrust Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BNCCORP	0	0	0	0	0.00
Wintrust Financial	0	2	11	1	2.93

Wintrust Financial has a consensus price target of $165.31, indicating a potential upside of 9.16%. Given Wintrust Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Wintrust Financial is more favorable than BNCCORP.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares BNCCORP and Wintrust Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BNCCORP	$52.44 million	2.47	$7.93 million	$2.50	14.60
Wintrust Financial	$2.73 billion	3.72	$823.84 million	$11.40	13.28

Wintrust Financial has higher revenue and earnings than BNCCORP. Wintrust Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BNCCORP, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares BNCCORP and Wintrust Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BNCCORP	15.94%	8.95%	0.91%
Wintrust Financial	19.48%	12.95%	1.22%

Risk & Volatility

BNCCORP has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 28.4% of BNCCORP shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Wintrust Financial 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.

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats BNCCORP on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BNCCORP

BNCCORP, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for BNC National Bank that provides community banking, retail and mortgage banking, and wealth management services to businesses and consumers. The company offers commercial banking services, including business financing, commercial real estate lending, small business administration loans, business checking, cash management, corporate credit cards, and merchant services to small to middle-market businesses. It also provides retail and mortgage banking services, such as personal checking and savings products, personal loans, and card services; and residential loans through a consumer direct channel, as well as a retail channel. In addition, the company offers wealth management solutions, including 401(k) and other retirement plans, trust services, and personal wealth advisory services. It offers community banking and wealth management services through 11 locations in Arizona and North Dakota; and mortgage banking services through 7 locations in Arizona, North Dakota, Illinois, and Kansas. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company. It operates in three segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment offers non-interest bearing deposits, non-brokered interest-bearing transaction accounts, and savings and domestic time deposits; home equity, consumer, and real estate loans; safe deposit facilities; and automatic teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, and other services. It also engages in the retail origination and purchase of residential mortgages; and provision of lending, deposits, and treasury management services to condominium, homeowner, and community associations, as well as asset-based lending for middle-market companies. In addition, this segment offers loan and deposit services to mortgage brokerage companies; lending to restaurant franchisees; direct leasing; small business administration loans; commercial mortgages and construction loans; and financial solutions. It provides personal and commercial banking services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional clients. The Specialty Finance segment offers commercial and life insurance premiums financing for businesses and individuals; accounts receivable financing, value-added, and out-sourced administrative services; other specialty finance services; equipment financing through structured loan and lease products; and property and casualty premium financing; as well as data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to temporary staffing industry. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management services, such as trust and investment, asset management, tax-deferred exchange, securities brokerage, and retirement plan services. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.