Financial Survey: Credit Agricole (OTCMKTS:CRARY) & Arrow Financial (NASDAQ:AROW)

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

Dividends

Arrow Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Credit Agricole pays an annual dividend of $0.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Arrow Financial pays out 45.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Credit Agricole pays out 50.4% 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. Arrow Financial has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Arrow Financial and Credit Agricole, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arrow Financial	0	3	3	0	2.50
Credit Agricole	0	4	1	0	2.20

Arrow Financial presently has a consensus target price of $41.62, indicating a potential upside of 6.34%. Given Arrow Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Arrow Financial is more favorable than Credit Agricole.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Arrow Financial and Credit Agricole”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arrow Financial	$242.58 million	2.99	$43.95 million	$2.64	14.83
Credit Agricole	$31.76 billion	1.67	$8.00 billion	$1.17	7.48

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

46.7% of Arrow Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.6% of Credit Agricole shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Arrow Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Arrow Financial and Credit Agricole’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arrow Financial	16.56%	13.18%	1.29%
Credit Agricole	23.72%	24.18%	0.87%

Volatility & Risk

Arrow Financial has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Credit Agricole has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Arrow Financial beats Credit Agricole on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arrow Financial

Arrow Financial Corporation, a bank holding company, provides commercial and consumer banking, and financial products and services. The company’s deposit products include demand deposits, interest-bearing checking accounts, savings deposits, time deposits, and other time deposits. Its lending activities comprise commercial loans, such as term loans, time notes, and lines of credit; and commercial real estate loans to finance real estate purchases, refinancing, expansions, and enhancement to commercial properties, as well as commercial construction and land development loans to finance projects. The company’s lending activities also include consumer installment loans to finance personal expenditures, personal lines of credit, overdraft protection, and automobile loans; and residential real estate loans, fixed home equity loans, and home equity lines of credit for consumers to finance home improvements, debt consolidation, education, and other uses. In addition, it maintains an indirect lending program. Further, the company provides retirement planning, trust, and estate administration services for individuals, as well as pension, profit-sharing, and employee benefit plan administration services for corporations. Additionally, it offers insurance agency services comprising group health care policies and life insurance, and property and casualty insurance products; and investment advisory services to its proprietary mutual funds, as well as holds a real estate investment trust. It operates in the northeastern region of New York State in Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Essex, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany, and Schenectady counties. Arrow Financial Corporation was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Glens Falls, New York.

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.