Head-To-Head Comparison: Societe Generale Group (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) versus West Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WTBA)

West Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WTBA) and Societe Generale Group (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for West Bancorporation and Societe Generale Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Bancorporation	0	3	1	0	2.25
Societe Generale Group	0	5	3	1	2.56

West Bancorporation currently has a consensus price target of $29.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.43%. Given West Bancorporation’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe West Bancorporation is more favorable than Societe Generale Group.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

44.3% of West Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.0% of Societe Generale Group shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of West Bancorporation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

West Bancorporation has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Societe Generale Group has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares West Bancorporation and Societe Generale Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Bancorporation	$202.45 million	2.48	$32.56 million	$2.23	13.19
Societe Generale Group	$30.83 billion	1.67	$6.79 billion	$1.94	7.20

Societe Generale Group has higher revenue and earnings than West Bancorporation. Societe Generale Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Bancorporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

West Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Societe Generale Group pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. West Bancorporation pays out 46.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Societe Generale Group pays out 11.3% 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 West Bancorporation and Societe Generale Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Bancorporation	18.75%	15.48%	1.03%
Societe Generale Group	23.30%	7.20%	0.36%

Summary

West Bancorporation beats Societe Generale Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Bancorporation

West Bancorporation, Inc. operates as the financial holding company provides community banking and trust services to individuals and small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States. It offers deposit services, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time certificates of deposit. The company also provides loan products comprising commercial real estate loans, construction and land development loans, commercial lines of credit, and commercial term loans; consumer loans, including loans extended to individuals for household, family, and other personal expenditures not secured by real estate; and 1-4 family residential mortgages and home equity loans. In addition, it offers online and mobile banking, treasury management services including cash management, client-generated automated clearing house transactions, remote deposit, and fraud protection services; merchant credit card processing and corporate credit cards; and administration of estates, conservatorships, personal trusts, and agency accounts. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa.

About Societe Generale Group

Société Générale Société anonyme provides banking and financial services to individuals, corporates, and institutional clients in Europe and internationally. It operates through French Retail Banking, International Retail Banking & Financial Services, and Global Banking and Investor Solutions. It offers retail banking services, such as consumer credit, vehicle leasing and fleet management, online banking, wealth management, and equipment and vendor finance services; and insurance products, including home, vehicle, family, health, and mortgage insurance. The company also provides corporate and investment banking, securities, business consulting, consumer finance, advisory and financing, and asset management and private banking services. In addition, it offers brokerage, cash management, payment, factoring/reverse factoring, export financing, trade finance, cash clearing and correspondent banking, and receivables and supply chain financing services. Société Générale Société anonyme was incorporated in 1864 and is headquartered in Paris, France.