Financial Survey: East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) and Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB)

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) and East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) are both 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, earnings, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and East West Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atlantic Union Bankshares	19.51%	9.47%	1.12%
East West Bancorp	26.78%	17.43%	1.70%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Atlantic Union Bankshares and East West Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0	1	3	0	2.75
East West Bancorp	0	1	11	0	2.92

Atlantic Union Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.20%. East West Bancorp has a consensus target price of $83.31, suggesting a potential upside of 9.95%. Given East West Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe East West Bancorp is more favorable than Atlantic Union Bankshares.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 47.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. East West Bancorp pays out 27.7% 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. Atlantic Union Bankshares has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Atlantic Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and East West Bancorp’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$1.05 billion	3.07	$201.82 million	$2.72	13.15
East West Bancorp	$3.99 billion	2.64	$1.16 billion	$7.94	9.54

East West Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Atlantic Union Bankshares. East West Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atlantic Union Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

East West Bancorp beats Atlantic Union Bankshares on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Atlantic Union Bankshares

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Atlantic Union Bank that provides banking and related financial products and services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale Banking and Consumer Banking. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, time deposit, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and other depository services. It also provides loans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer purposes, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides treasury management and capital market, wealth management, private banking, trust, financial and retirement planning, brokerage, investment management, equipment finance, mortgage banking, and insurance products and services. The company offers products and services through full-service branches and ATMs, as well as through its mobile and internet banking. The company was formerly known as Union Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation in May 2019. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for East West Bank that provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer and Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other. It accepts various deposit products, such as personal and business checking and savings accounts, money market, and time deposits. The company's loan products include mortgage and home equity, commercial and residential real estate, working capital lines of credit, construction finance, trade finance, letters of credit, commercial business, affordable housing loans, asset-based lending, asset-backed finance, project finance, loan syndication, and equipment financing, as well as financing services for clients to facilitate their business transactions between the United States and Asia. It also provides various wealth management, treasury management, foreign exchange, and interest rate and commodity risk hedging services; and mobile and online banking services. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.