Comparing Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) & Oversea-Chinese Banking (OTCMKTS:OVCHF)

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) and Oversea-Chinese Banking (OTCMKTS:OVCHF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

31.7% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.5% of Oversea-Chinese Banking shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.2% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Peoples Financial Services and Oversea-Chinese Banking’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Financial Services	20.66%	17.27%	1.70%
Oversea-Chinese Banking	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Peoples Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $2.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Oversea-Chinese Banking pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Peoples Financial Services pays out 28.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oversea-Chinese Banking pays out 33.1% 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. Peoples Financial Services has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Peoples Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Peoples Financial Services and Oversea-Chinese Banking”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peoples Financial Services	$283.67 million	2.48	$59.19 million	$8.83	7.94
Oversea-Chinese Banking	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.04	21.48

Peoples Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than Oversea-Chinese Banking. Peoples Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Oversea-Chinese Banking, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Peoples Financial Services and Oversea-Chinese Banking, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Financial Services	0	2	1	0	2.33
Oversea-Chinese Banking	0	0	0	0	0.00

Peoples Financial Services currently has a consensus target price of $65.50, suggesting a potential downside of 6.62%. Given Peoples Financial Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Peoples Financial Services is more favorable than Oversea-Chinese Banking.

Summary

Peoples Financial Services beats Oversea-Chinese Banking on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides residential real estate, automobile, manufactured housing, personal, and home equity loans; and commercial real estate, working capital, construction, small business administration, and agricultural loans, as well as loans for equipment and other commercial needs, and mineral rights. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment services; investment management, IRA trustee, estate administration, living and life insurance trust, trustee under will, guardianship, custodial/IRA custodial, and corporate trust services, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans. Further, it provides wealth management products and services comprising investment portfolio management, estate and business succession planning, annuities, insurance, retirement plan, and tax planning, as well as education funding strategies; and securities, brokerage, and investor services. Additionally, the company offers small business checking and merchant money market accounts, online and telephone banking, business credit cards, merchant line of credit, and financial checkup services; and remote deposit capture, automatic clearing house transaction, cash management, automated teller machine, point of sale transaction, safe deposit box, night depository, direct deposit, and official check services. It serves business, non-profit, governmental, municipal agency, and professional customers, as well as retail customers. Peoples Financial Services Corp. was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

About Oversea-Chinese Banking

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited engages in the provision of financial services in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Greater China, rest of the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company's Global Consumer/Private Banking segment provides products and services to individual customers, including checking accounts, and savings and fixed deposits; housing and other personal loans; credit cards; wealth management products consisting of unit trusts, banc assurance products, and structured deposits; and brokerage services. This segment also offers investment advice and portfolio management, estate and trust planning, and wealth structuring services for high-net-worth individuals. Its Global Wholesale Banking segment provides long-term project financing, short-term credit, working capital, and trade financing; customized and structured equity-linked financing products; cash management and custodian services; capital market solutions; corporate finance and advisory banking services; and treasury products. This segment serves corporates, public sector, and small and medium enterprises. The company's Global Markets segment is involved in the foreign exchange activities, money market operations, and fixed income and derivatives trading, as well as structured treasury products and financial solutions. Its Insurance segment provides fund management services, and life and general insurance products. The company's Others segment is involved in property and investment holding activities. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Singapore.