Comparing Woori Bank (NYSE:WF) & Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG)

Woori Bank (NYSE:WF) and Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.4% of Woori Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Woori Bank and Citizens Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Woori Bank	13.28%	8.18%	0.52%
Citizens Financial Group	18.07%	9.52%	0.98%

Risk & Volatility

Woori Bank has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Woori Bank and Citizens Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Woori Bank	0	0	1	1	3.50
Citizens Financial Group	0	4	15	1	2.85

Citizens Financial Group has a consensus target price of $77.28, indicating a potential upside of 21.18%. Given Citizens Financial Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Citizens Financial Group is more favorable than Woori Bank.

Dividends

Woori Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Woori Bank pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens Financial Group pays out 37.0% 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Woori Bank and Citizens Financial Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Woori Bank	$16.27 billion	1.01	$2.16 billion	$8.68	7.72
Citizens Financial Group	$12.06 billion	2.22	$1.83 billion	$4.97	12.83

Woori Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Citizens Financial Group. Woori Bank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Citizens Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Citizens Financial Group beats Woori Bank on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Woori Bank

Woori Financial Group Inc., a financial holding company, operates as a commercial bank that provides a range of financial products and services to individuals, corporations, and small- and medium-sized enterprises in Korea. It operates through Banking, Credit Card, Capital, Investment Banking, and Others segments. The company offers savings, demand, installment, and time deposits; certificates of deposit; repurchase instruments; and working capital, facilities, general purpose household, mortgage, and home equity loans. It also provides debit and credit cards, cash services, card loans, and related services; lease financing; and securities operation, sale of financial instruments, project financing, and other related solutions. In addition, the company offers credit purchase, cash advance, credit card loans, foreign exchange services and dealing, import and export-related services, offshore lending, syndicated loans and foreign currency securities investment, investment trust products, bancassurance, and private equity funds. Further, it is involved in the real estate trust, system software development and maintenance, financing, credit information, securities investment and trading, derivatives trading, trust, asset securitization, investment and international banking, money transfer, and other services. Additionally, the company offers automated telephone, internet, and mobile banking services; and trust management, trustee, and custodian services. Woori Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking. The Consumer Banking segment offers deposit products, mortgage and home equity lending products, credit cards, business loans, wealth management, and investment services; and auto, education, and point-of-sale finance loans, as well as digital deposit products. This segment serves its customers through telephone service centers, as well as through its online and mobile platforms. The Commercial Banking segment provides various financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, and interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as syndicated loans, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity capital markets services. This segment serves corporate banking, healthcare, technology, asset finance, franchise finance, leasing, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, mid-corporate, and private equity sponsor industries. The company was formerly known as RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Citizens Financial Group, Inc. in April 2014. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1828 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.