UBS Group (UBS) versus The Competition Critical Review

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) is one of 1,744 publicly-traded companies in the “Capital Markets” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare UBS Group to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

UBS Group has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UBS Group’s peers have a beta of 0.81, meaning that their average stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

30.5% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of UBS Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.0% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are owned by 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

UBS Group pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. UBS Group pays out 11.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 30.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. UBS Group has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares UBS Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UBS Group	13.36%	10.77%	0.58%
UBS Group Competitors	304.35%	79.05%	3.65%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares UBS Group and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
UBS Group	$52.24 billion	$7.77 billion	15.73
UBS Group Competitors	$2.28 billion	$394.83 million	15.78

UBS Group has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. UBS Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for UBS Group and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UBS Group	2	4	6	1	2.46
UBS Group Competitors	5533	20091	22421	640	2.37

UBS Group presently has a consensus price target of $60.30, indicating a potential upside of 26.52%. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies have a potential upside of 26.90%. Given UBS Group’s peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe UBS Group has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

UBS Group peers beat UBS Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About UBS Group

UBS Group AG provides financial advice and solutions to private, institutional, and corporate clients worldwide. It operates through five divisions: Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management, Investment Bank, and Non-core and Legacy. The company offers investment advice, estate and wealth planning, investing, corporate and banking, and investment management, as well as mortgage, securities-based, and structured lending solutions. It also provides personal banking products and services, such as deposits, credit and debit cards, and online and mobile banking, as well as lending, investments, retirement, and wealth management services; and corporate and institutional solutions, including equity and debt capital markets, syndicated and structured credit, private placements, leasing, traditional financing, and transaction banking solutions for payment and cash management services, trade and export finance, and global custody solutions. In addition, the company offers equities, fixed income, hedge funds, real estate and private markets, indexed and alternative beta strategies, asset allocation and currency investment strategies, customized multi-asset solutions, advisory and fiduciary services, and multi-manager hedge fund solutions and advisory services. Further, it advises clients on strategic business opportunities and helps them raise capital to fund their activities; enables its clients to buy, sell, and finance securities on capital markets and to manage their risks and liquidity; distributes, trades in, finances, and clears cash equities and equity-linked products; structures, originates, and distributes new equity and equity-linked issues; and originates, distributes, manages risk, and provides liquidity in foreign exchange, rates, credit and precious metals. The company was formerly known as UBS AG and changed its name to UBS Group AG in December 2014. UBS Group AG was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.