Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) versus Commerzbank (OTCMKTS:CRZBY) Head to Head Review

Commerzbank (OTCMKTS:CRZBY) and Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Commerzbank and Lloyds Banking Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Commerzbank	$26.54 billion	1.69	$2.97 billion	$3.04	14.03
Lloyds Banking Group	$25.61 billion	3.05	$6.14 billion	$0.43	12.52

Lloyds Banking Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Commerzbank. Lloyds Banking Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Commerzbank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Commerzbank and Lloyds Banking Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Commerzbank	0	5	3	1	2.56
Lloyds Banking Group	0	3	7	0	2.70

Dividends

Commerzbank pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Lloyds Banking Group pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Commerzbank pays out 29.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lloyds Banking Group pays out 39.5% 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 Commerzbank and Lloyds Banking Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Commerzbank	13.30%	8.89%	0.53%
Lloyds Banking Group	24.97%	10.94%	0.54%

Volatility & Risk

Commerzbank has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lloyds Banking Group has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

2.1% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lloyds Banking Group beats Commerzbank on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Commerzbank

Commerzbank AG provides banking and capital market products and services to private and small business customers, corporate, financial service providers, and institutional clients in Germany, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Private and Small-Business Customers, and Corporate Clients. The company offers saving, checking, business, and current accounts; term deposits; pension; credit and debit cards; payment solutions; overdraft services; various loans; and insurance products. It also provides trade securities; treasury management; corporate financing; real estate financing; financing advisory; merger and acquisition; foreign trade; trade financing; asset and risk management; and online banking, as well as wealth management services. Commerzbank AG was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

About Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance, Pensions and Investments. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt financing services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and institutions. The Insurance, Pensions, and Investments segment offers insurance, investment, and pension management products and services. It also provides digital banking services. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, AMC, Embark Group, Citra, IWeb, Cavendish Online, and Tusker brand names. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.