Contrasting Capital One Financial (COF) and Its Competitors

Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) is one of 120 publicly-traded companies in the “Consumer Finance” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Capital One Financial to related companies based on the strength of its risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Capital One Financial pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Capital One Financial pays out 18.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Consumer Finance” companies pay a dividend yield of 6.1% and pay out 34.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Capital One Financial and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Capital One Financial	13.70%	11.64%	1.94%
Capital One Financial Competitors	10.33%	-15.81%	1.99%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.8% of Capital One Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.7% of shares of all “Consumer Finance” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Capital One Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of shares of all “Consumer Finance” companies 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Capital One Financial and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Capital One Financial	$63.01 billion	$2.45 billion	11.65
Capital One Financial Competitors	$65.54 billion	$385.17 million	6.15

Capital One Financial’s peers have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Capital One Financial. Capital One Financial is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Capital One Financial and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Capital One Financial	0	4	20	0	2.83
Capital One Financial Competitors	893	3362	5295	275	2.50

Capital One Financial currently has a consensus price target of $256.50, suggesting a potential upside of 30.00%. As a group, “Consumer Finance” companies have a potential upside of 20.33%. Given Capital One Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Capital One Financial is more favorable than its peers.

Volatility & Risk

Capital One Financial has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital One Financial’s peers have a beta of 1.26, suggesting that their average share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Capital One Financial beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Capital One Financial

Capital One Financial Corporation is a bank holding company that provides credit cards, consumer banking, auto financing and commercial banking services. Its offerings include credit cards, deposit accounts, loans and financial services for businesses. The company traces its roots to a credit card business established within Signet Banking Corporation in 1988 and became an independent company in 1994. Capital One is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, and serves customers primarily in the United States, with credit card operations also in the United Kingdom.