Contrasting Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) & DNB Bank ASA (OTCMKTS:DNBBY)

DNB Bank ASA (OTCMKTS:DNBBY) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.0% of Associated Banc shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Associated Banc shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for DNB Bank ASA and Associated Banc, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DNB Bank ASA	3	4	1	1	2.00
Associated Banc	0	6	6	0	2.50

Associated Banc has a consensus target price of $32.70, suggesting a potential upside of 4.19%. Given Associated Banc’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Associated Banc is more favorable than DNB Bank ASA.

Profitability

This table compares DNB Bank ASA and Associated Banc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DNB Bank ASA	21.06%	13.69%	1.05%
Associated Banc	19.87%	10.75%	1.13%

Risk and Volatility

DNB Bank ASA has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

DNB Bank ASA pays an annual dividend of $1.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. DNB Bank ASA pays out 50.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc pays out 34.6% 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. Associated Banc has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares DNB Bank ASA and Associated Banc”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DNB Bank ASA	$19.14 billion	2.83	$4.20 billion	$2.80	12.48
Associated Banc	$1.68 billion	3.47	$474.78 million	$2.89	10.86

DNB Bank ASA has higher revenue and earnings than Associated Banc. Associated Banc is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DNB Bank ASA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Associated Banc beats DNB Bank ASA on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DNB Bank ASA

DNB Bank ASA provides financial services for individual and business customers in Norway and internationally. The company offers savings, current, and pension accounts; fixed rate and security deposits; home and cabin mortgages, car and consumer loans, business loans, and refinancing; car, house, home contents, travel, personal, and non-life insurance product; payment services; and online and mobile banking services, as well as cards. It also provides overdraft facilities; leasing services; factoring, supply chain, and receivable purchase financing services; bank guarantee, secure trading, documentary collection, and letter of credit services; investment banking services, such as mergers and acquisition, equity and debt capital market, shares and securities, mutual funds and trading, and bonds and commodities; and private financing, as well as equity trading, foreign exchange, interest rates, and risk advisory services. In addition, the company offers treasury management, working capital, trade finance, auto lease and equipment financing, and corporate finance services, as well as act as an estate agents. DNB Bank ASA was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

About Associated Banc

Associated Banc-Corp, a bank holding company, provides various banking and nonbanking products to individuals and businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. The company offers lending solutions, including commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, letters of credit, leasing, asset based lending and equipment finance, loan syndications products, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, auto finance and business loans, and business lines of credit. It also provides deposit and cash management solutions, such as commercial checking and interest-bearing deposit products, cash vault and night depository services, liquidity solutions, payables and receivables solutions, and information services; specialized financial services, such as interest rate risk management and foreign exchange solutions; fiduciary services, such as administration of pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit plans, fiduciary and corporate agency services, and institutional asset management services; and investable funds solutions, including savings, money market deposit accounts, IRA accounts, CDs, fixed and variable annuities, full-service, discount, and online investment brokerage; investment advisory services; and trust and investment management accounts. In addition, the company offers deposit and transactional solutions, including checking, credit, debit and pre-paid cards, online banking and bill pay; and money transfer services. Associated Banc-Corp was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.