Critical Contrast: Eagle Bancorp (NASDAQ:EGBN) vs. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA)

Eagle Bancorp (NASDAQ:EGBN) and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Eagle Bancorp and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eagle Bancorp	1	2	1	1	2.40
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	1	7	4	1	2.38

Eagle Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $31.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.66%. Given Eagle Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Eagle Bancorp is more favorable than Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria.

Dividends

Eagle Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Eagle Bancorp pays out -3.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria pays out 30.9% 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Eagle Bancorp and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eagle Bancorp	$634.26 million	1.37	-$138.05 million	($1.26)	-22.64
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	$41.77 billion	3.44	$11.89 billion	$2.20	11.72

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has higher revenue and earnings than Eagle Bancorp. Eagle Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Eagle Bancorp and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eagle Bancorp	-6.43%	-3.37%	-0.37%
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	27.75%	18.05%	1.27%

Risk and Volatility

Eagle Bancorp has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.0% of Eagle Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.0% of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Eagle Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria beats Eagle Bancorp on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eagle Bancorp

Eagle Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for EagleBank that provides commercial and consumer banking services primarily in the United States. The company also offers various commercial and consumer lending products comprising commercial loans for working capital, equipment purchases, real estate lines of credit, and government contract financing; asset based lending and accounts receivable financing; construction and commercial real estate loans; business equipment financing; consumer home equity lines of credit, personal lines of credit, and term loans; consumer installment loans, such as auto and personal loans; personal credit cards; and residential mortgage loans. In addition, it provides online and mobile banking services; checking and saving accounts; and other deposit services, including cash management services, business sweep accounts, lock boxes, remote deposit captures, account reconciliation services, merchant card services, safety deposit boxes, and automated clearing house origination, as well as after-hours depositories and ATM services. Further, the company offers insurance products and services through a referral program; and treasury management services. The company serves sole proprietors, small and medium-sized businesses, partnerships, corporations, and non-profit organizations and associations, as well as investors. Eagle Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

About Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. provides retail banking, wholesale banking, and asset management services in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and internationally. The company offers savings account, demand deposits, and time deposits; and loan products, such as residential mortgages, other households, credit card loans, loans to enterprises and public sector, as well as consumer finance. It provides insurance and asset management business, including corporate, commercial, SME, payment systems, retail, private and investment banking, pension and life insurance, leasing, factoring, and brokerage. The company provides its products through online and mobile channels. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Bilbao, Spain.