Head to Head Contrast: Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ (OTCMKTS:SVNLY) vs. First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB)

Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ (OTCMKTS:SVNLY) and First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ and First Hawaiian, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ	3	1	1	0	1.60
First Hawaiian	2	7	2	0	2.00

First Hawaiian has a consensus target price of $29.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.70%. Given First Hawaiian’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First Hawaiian is more favorable than Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ.

Volatility and Risk

Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Hawaiian has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.6% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ and First Hawaiian”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ	$21.75 billion	1.39	$2.42 billion	$0.71	10.75
First Hawaiian	$1.17 billion	2.54	$276.27 million	$2.30	10.62

Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ has higher revenue and earnings than First Hawaiian. First Hawaiian is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ and First Hawaiian’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ	17.75%	14.30%	0.72%
First Hawaiian	24.41%	10.27%	1.19%

Dividends

Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. First Hawaiian pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ pays out 81.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. First Hawaiian pays out 45.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

First Hawaiian beats Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Svenska Handelsbanken Ab Publ

Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) provides various banking products and services for private and corporate customers primarily in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, the United States, Luxembourg, Finland, and Poland. The company offers savings, transactions, business, currency, and investment accounts, as well as accounts for cash pool, and forestry and agriculture; mortgage and committed loans, and private loans; mutual funds; pension products; credit and debit cards; and payment and reconciliation services, as well as foreign exchange rate services. It also provides financing for investments, such as equipment, cars, computers, and other inventories, as well as vehicle and real estate financing services; green loans and advisor services; investment and other financing services; medical care, and group and health insurance products; forestry and farming banking products; and online and mobile banking services, as well as various banking services for children and young people. In addition, the company offers financial services, that includes asset management, transactional banking, corporate finance, financing, markets, trade finance, market information and research services to large corporations; cash management solutions; and various corporate banking services to small and medium-sized companies and large corporates, as well as private banking services. Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) was incorporated in 1871 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

About First Hawaiian

First Hawaiian, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for First Hawaiian Bank that provides a range of banking products and services to consumer and commercial customers in the United States. It operates in three segments: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Other. The company offers various deposit products, including checking, savings, and time deposit accounts, and other deposit accounts. It also provides residential and commercial mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit and loans, automobile loans and leases, secured and unsecured lines of credit, installment loans, small business loans and leases, and construction lending, as well as commercial lease and auto dealer financing. In addition, the company offers wealth management, personal installment, individual investment and financial planning, insurance protection, trust and estate, private banking, investment management, retirement planning, and merchant processing services, as well as consumer and commercial credit cards. The company was formerly known as BancWest Corporation and changed its name to First Hawaiian, Inc. in April 2016. First Hawaiian, Inc. was founded in 1858 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.