Head-To-Head Survey: Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) versus Credit Agricole (OTCMKTS:CRARY)

Credit Agricole (OTCMKTS:CRARY) and Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Credit Agricole and Dime Community Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Credit Agricole	23.39%	31.64%	1.14%
Dime Community Bancshares	15.15%	9.12%	0.83%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Credit Agricole and Dime Community Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Credit Agricole	$31.76 billion	1.74	$8.00 billion	$1.12	8.05
Dime Community Bancshares	$489.44 million	3.44	$110.68 million	$2.77	13.75

Credit Agricole has higher revenue and earnings than Dime Community Bancshares. Credit Agricole is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dime Community Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.6% of Credit Agricole shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.3% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are held 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Credit Agricole and Dime Community Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Credit Agricole	0	4	1	0	2.20
Dime Community Bancshares	0	2	3	1	2.83

Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus price target of $39.75, indicating a potential upside of 4.34%. Given Dime Community Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Dime Community Bancshares is more favorable than Credit Agricole.

Risk and Volatility

Credit Agricole has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dime Community Bancshares has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Credit Agricole pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Dime Community Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Credit Agricole pays out 37.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dime Community Bancshares pays out 36.1% 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. Dime Community Bancshares has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Summary

Dime Community Bancshares beats Credit Agricole on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Credit Agricole

Crédit Agricole S.A. provides retail, corporate, insurance, and investment banking products and services in France and internationally. It operates through French Retail Banking Regional Banks; French Retail Banking – LCL; International Retail Banking; Asset Gathering; Large Customers; and Specialised Financial Services segments. The company offers banking products and services, finance, savings, wealth management, payment, and cash flow management services; consumer finance products; savings/retirement, death and disability/creditor/group, and property and casualty insurance products; investment solutions; and banking and specialized financial services. It also provides investment banking, structured finance, international trade finance, commercial banking, capital market, and syndication services; financing solutions for property and equipment investment and renewal requirements; trade receivable financing and management solutions for corporates; asset servicing solutions for investment products, as well as various asset classes, such as execution, clearing, forex, security lending and borrowing, custody, depositary bank, fund administration, middle-office outsourcing solutions, and fund distribution support and issuer services; and online banking services. The company serves retail customers, corporates, banks and financial institutions, government agencies, and local authorities. Crédit Agricole S.A. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Montrouge, France. Crédit Agricole S.A. operates as a subsidiary of SAS Rue La Boetie.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Dime Community Bank that engages in the provision of various commercial banking and financial services. The company accepts time, savings, and demand deposits from the businesses, consumers, and local municipalities. It also offers commercial real estate loans; multi-family mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; letters of credit; secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans; lines of credit; home equity loans; and construction and land loans. In addition, the company invests in Federal Home Loan Bank, Federal National Mortgage Association, Government National Mortgage Association, and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other asset backed securities; U.S. Treasury securities; New York state and local municipal obligations; U.S. government-sponsored enterprise securities; and corporate bonds. Further, it offers certificate of deposit account registry services and insured cash sweep programs; federal deposit insurance corporation insurance; merchant credit and debit card processing, automated teller machines, cash management services, lockbox processing, online banking services, remote deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, and individual retirement accounts; investment products and services through a third-party broker dealer; and title insurance broker services for small and medium sized businesses, and municipal and consumer relationships. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.