Critical Survey: Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) and Societe Generale Group (OTCMKTS:SCGLY)

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Westamerica Bancorporation and Societe Generale Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westamerica Bancorporation	$252.21 million	5.56	$116.17 million	$4.64	13.09
Societe Generale Group	$30.83 billion	1.63	$6.79 billion	$1.94	7.02

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Westamerica Bancorporation and Societe Generale Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westamerica Bancorporation	0	1	1	0	2.50
Societe Generale Group	0	5	3	1	2.56

Westamerica Bancorporation presently has a consensus target price of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.03%. Given Westamerica Bancorporation’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Westamerica Bancorporation is more favorable than Societe Generale Group.

Volatility & Risk

Westamerica Bancorporation has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Societe Generale Group has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.9% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.0% of Societe Generale Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned 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.

Dividends

Westamerica Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Societe Generale Group pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Westamerica Bancorporation pays out 41.4% 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. Westamerica Bancorporation has increased its dividend for 34 consecutive years. Westamerica Bancorporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Westamerica Bancorporation and Societe Generale Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westamerica Bancorporation	41.63%	12.80%	1.89%
Societe Generale Group	24.17%	7.57%	0.38%

Summary

Westamerica Bancorporation beats Societe Generale Group on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Westamerica Bancorporation

Westamerica Bancorporation operates as a bank holding company for the Westamerica Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and commercial customers. The company accepts various deposit products, including retail savings and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio includes commercial, commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, and consumer installment loans, as well as indirect automobile loans. The company was formerly known as Independent Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Westamerica Bancorporation in 1983. The company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in San Rafael, California.

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.