Reviewing Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) and UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY)

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) and UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Alerus Financial and UniCredit, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alerus Financial	0	3	1	0	2.25
UniCredit	0	0	0	0	N/A

Alerus Financial currently has a consensus price target of $23.50, indicating a potential upside of 5.86%. Given Alerus Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alerus Financial is more favorable than UniCredit.

Risk & Volatility

Alerus Financial has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UniCredit has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Alerus Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. UniCredit pays an annual dividend of $0.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Alerus Financial pays out 163.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alerus Financial has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years. Alerus Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

51.3% of Alerus Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of UniCredit shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Alerus Financial 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.

Profitability

This table compares Alerus Financial and UniCredit’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alerus Financial	2.39%	7.30%	0.66%
UniCredit	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Alerus Financial and UniCredit’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alerus Financial	$167.96 million	2.61	$11.70 million	$0.49	45.31
UniCredit	$26.50 billion	2.54	$9.32 billion	N/A	N/A

UniCredit has higher revenue and earnings than Alerus Financial.

Summary

Alerus Financial beats UniCredit on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alerus Financial

Alerus Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Alerus Financial, National Association that engages in the provision of various financial services to businesses and consumers. The company operates in four segments: Banking, Mortgage, Retirement and Benefit Services, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, time and savings deposits, checking accounts, and certificates of deposit; and treasury management products, including electronic receivables management, remote deposit capture, cash vault services, merchant services, and other cash management services. The company also provides commercial loans, business term loans, lines of credit, and commercial real estate loans, as well as construction and land development loans; consumer lending products, including residential first mortgage loans; installment loans and lines of credit; and second mortgage loans. In addition, it offers retirement plan administration and investment advisory services, employee stock ownership plan, fiduciary services, payroll, health savings accounts, and other benefit services, as well as individual retirement accounts; and financial planning, investment management, personal and corporate trust, estate administration, and custody services. Further, the company provides debit and credit cards, online banking, mobile banking/wallet, payment, private banking, payroll accounts, flex spending accounts, administration, and government health insurance program services. It offers banking services in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Arizona; and retirement and benefit plans through offices located in Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado. The company was formerly known as First National Bank North Dakota and changed its name to Alerus Financial Corporation in 2000. Alerus Financial Corporation was founded in 1879 and is headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

About UniCredit

UniCredit S.p.A. provides commercial banking services in Italy, Germany, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe. It offers retail, private, and wealth management solutions; and institutional investor solutions. The company also provides corporate finance advisory, rating advisory, financial sponsor, patient capital, capital structure advisory, and finance solutions, as well as securities services. In addition, it offers transactional and risk management, and strategic advisory and funding services; group trade and correspondent banking services; and payments and cash management solutions. The company serves SME, corporate, multinational corporate, financial institution, and public sector clients, as well as retail, private banking, wealth management, and family office clients. The company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy.