Comparing Bank of Communications (OTCMKTS:BCMXY) & ING Group (NYSE:ING)

ING Group (NYSE:ING) and Bank of Communications (OTCMKTS:BCMXY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for ING Group and Bank of Communications, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ING Group	0	0	5	1	3.17
Bank of Communications	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

This table compares ING Group and Bank of Communications’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ING Group	26.94%	11.57%	0.57%
Bank of Communications	18.19%	7.70%	0.62%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

4.5% of ING Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

ING Group pays an annual dividend of $0.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Bank of Communications pays an annual dividend of $0.85 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. ING Group pays out 31.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of Communications pays out 22.0% 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. Bank of Communications is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

ING Group has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of Communications has a beta of -0.16, meaning that its share price is 116% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ING Group and Bank of Communications”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ING Group	$24.47 billion	3.40	$5.77 billion	$2.22	12.89
Bank of Communications	$75.42 billion	0.83	$13.02 billion	$3.87	5.47

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

Summary

ING Group beats Bank of Communications on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ING Group

ING Groep N.V. provides various banking products and services in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through five segments: Retail Netherlands, Retail Belgium, Retail Germany, Retail Other, and Wholesale Banking. The company accepts current and savings accounts. It also offers business lending products; SME loans; consumer lending products, such as residential mortgage loans and other consumer lending loans; and mortgages. In addition, the company provides working capital solutions; debt and equity market solutions; various loans; payments; and cash management, trade and corporate finance, and treasury services, as well as savings, investment, insurance, and digital banking services. It serves individual customers, corporate clients, and financial institutions. ING Groep N.V. was founded in 1762 and is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

About Bank of Communications

Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. provides commercial banking products and services in China. The company offers savings deposit products, including demand deposits, lump-sum deposits and withdrawal, time deposit of small savings for lump-sum withdrawal, interest withdrawal on principal deposited, time-demand deposit, call deposit, swap management, and education deposit; personal certificate of deposit; salary financing A; and foreign currency deposit. It also provides credit, quasi-credit, and debit cards; new housing and second-hand mortgage loans and unsecured personal loans; personal wealth management advisor services; and precious metal and commodity trading services. In addition, the company offers corporate structured deposit and corporate certificate of deposit; corporate cash management; industrial chain finance program comprising prepayment financing, inventory financing, accounts receivable financing and accounts payable financing; syndicated loans; corporation overdraft; investment banking services; and offshore banking services, such as repayment financing, inventory financing, accounts receivable financing and accounts payable financing, and forex currencies. Further, it provides bond account activation, bond distribution, and transaction services; related bond escrow and settlement, pledge registration, and principal and interest payment services; training and consulting services for cooperative banks; cross-border inter-bank payments system services; consignment sales of precious metal products; bond underwriting distribution; third party bond depository services; bank derivatives transfer; b-share transfer; bankfutures transfer; standard warehouse warrant pledged financing; institutional investment consulting, wealth management, and insurance services; and clearing and settlement services for future markets. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.