Head to Head Survey: National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) versus First Interstate BancSystem (NASDAQ:FIBK)

National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF) and First Interstate BancSystem (NASDAQ:FIBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

National Bank of Canada has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Interstate BancSystem has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.1% of National Bank of Canada shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of First Interstate BancSystem shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of National Bank of Canada shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of First Interstate BancSystem shares are owned by company 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares National Bank of Canada and First Interstate BancSystem”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Bank of Canada	$21.96 billion	2.62	$2.87 billion	$8.63	17.44
First Interstate BancSystem	$1.05 billion	3.36	$302.10 million	$3.25	11.40

National Bank of Canada has higher revenue and earnings than First Interstate BancSystem. First Interstate BancSystem is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Bank of Canada, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

National Bank of Canada pays an annual dividend of $3.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. First Interstate BancSystem pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. National Bank of Canada pays out 44.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Interstate BancSystem pays out 57.8% 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 National Bank of Canada and First Interstate BancSystem’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Bank of Canada	17.22%	16.74%	0.86%
First Interstate BancSystem	23.63%	9.55%	1.22%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for National Bank of Canada and First Interstate BancSystem, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Bank of Canada	0	5	3	0	2.38
First Interstate BancSystem	3	3	2	0	1.88

First Interstate BancSystem has a consensus price target of $36.83, indicating a potential downside of 0.58%. Given First Interstate BancSystem’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Interstate BancSystem is more favorable than National Bank of Canada.

Summary

National Bank of Canada beats First Interstate BancSystem on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About National Bank of Canada

National Bank of Canada provides financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional clients, and governments in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, and savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services, such as credit, and deposit, investment solutions, international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services. The Wealth Management segment provides full-service brokerage, private banking, direct brokerage, investment solutions, administrative and trade execution, transaction products, and trust and estate services. The Financial Markets segment offers corporate banking, advisory, and capital markets services; and project financing, debt, and equity underwriting; advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, and financing. The U.S. Specialty Finance and International segment provides specialty finance products; and personal and commercial banking in Cambodia. National Bank of Canada was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

About First Interstate BancSystem

First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for First Interstate Bank that provides range of banking products and services in the United States. It offers various traditional depository products, including checking, savings, and time deposits; and repurchase agreements primarily for commercial and municipal depositors. The company also offers real estate loans comprising commercial real estate, construction, residential, agricultural, and other real estate loans; consumer loans comprising direct personal loans, credit card loans and lines of credit, and indirect loans; variable and fixed rate commercial loans for small and medium-sized manufacturing, wholesale, retail, and service businesses for working capital needs and business expansions; and agricultural loans. In addition, it provides a range of trust, employee benefit, investment management, insurance, agency, and custodial services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Further, the company offers marketing, credit review, loan servicing, credit cards issuance and servicing, mortgage loan sales and servicing, indirect consumer loan purchasing and processing, loan collection services, other operational, and specialized staff support services, as well as online and mobile banking services. The company serves individuals, businesses, municipalities, and other entities in various industries, including agriculture, construction, education, governmental services, healthcare, hospitality, housing, professional services, real estate development, retail, technology, tourism, and wholesale trade. First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Billings, Montana.