Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) and BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Head to Head Analysis

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) and Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Dividends

BBVA Banco Frances pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Valley National Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. BBVA Banco Frances pays out 82.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Valley National Bancorp pays out 37.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BBVA Banco Frances and Valley National Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BBVA Banco Frances	$4.96 billion	0.61	$252.12 million	$1.02	14.55
Valley National Bancorp	$2.15 billion	3.54	$597.98 million	$1.18	11.69

Valley National Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than BBVA Banco Frances. Valley National Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BBVA Banco Frances, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.0% of Valley National Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Valley National Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for BBVA Banco Frances and Valley National Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BBVA Banco Frances	0	4	1	2	2.71
Valley National Bancorp	0	4	10	3	2.94

BBVA Banco Frances presently has a consensus price target of $18.50, indicating a potential upside of 24.65%. Valley National Bancorp has a consensus price target of $16.17, indicating a potential upside of 17.15%. Given BBVA Banco Frances’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe BBVA Banco Frances is more favorable than Valley National Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

BBVA Banco Frances has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valley National Bancorp has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BBVA Banco Frances and Valley National Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BBVA Banco Frances	4.16%	7.56%	1.10%
Valley National Bancorp	19.49%	9.13%	1.06%

Summary

Valley National Bancorp beats BBVA Banco Frances on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BBVA Banco Frances

Banco BBVA Argentina S.A. provides various banking products and services to individuals and companies in Argentina. The company provides retail banking products and services, such as checking and savings accounts, time deposits, credit cards financing, consumer and pledge loans, mortgages, insurance, and investment products to individuals; and small and medium-sized companies products and services, including financing products, factoring, checking accounts, time deposits, transactional and payroll services, insurance, and investment products to private-sector companies. It also provides corporate and investment banking products and services, such as global transaction services; global markets solutions comprising risk management and securities brokerage; long-term financing products, including project finance and syndicated loans; and corporate finance services comprising mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets advisory services to corporations and multinational companies. The company was formerly known as BBVA Banco Francés S.A. and changed its name to Banco BBVA Argentina S.A. in July 2019. Banco BBVA Argentina S.A. was incorporated in 1886 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp operates as the holding company for Valley National Bank that provides various commercial, private banking, retail, insurance, and wealth management financial services products. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Corporate other segments. The company offers non-interest bearing, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposit accounts; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and automobile loans; loans secured by the cash surrender value of life insurance; home equity loans and lines of credit; automobile financing; and secured and unsecured other consumer loans. It also invests in various securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks; and provides international banking services, such as standby and documentary letters of credit, and related products, as well as foreign exchange transactions, documentary collections, and foreign wire transfers services. In addition, the company offers investment services for individuals and small to medium sized businesses; and trusts investment strategies designed for various investment profiles and objectives. Further, it provides trust services, such as living and testamentary trusts, investment management, custodial and escrow services, and estate administration to individuals; tax credit advisory services; brokerage services; property and casualty, life, health, and title insurance agency services; and health care equipment lending and other commercial equipment leasing services, as well as owns real estate related investments. Additionally, the company offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services; receivable, payment, and security solution, merchant, payroll processing, and liquidity services; credit cards; and drive-in and night deposit, automated teller machine, remote deposit capture, and safe deposit facility services. Valley National Bancorp was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey.