Head to Head Comparison: Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) and City Bank (OTCMKTS:CTBK)

City Bank (OTCMKTS:CTBK) and Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.5% of City Bank shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares City Bank and Cathay General Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
City Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cathay General Bancorp	22.76%	10.89%	1.32%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for City Bank and Cathay General Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
City Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
Cathay General Bancorp	0	3	2	0	2.40

Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus price target of $52.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.13%. Given City Bank’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe City Bank is more favorable than Cathay General Bancorp.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares City Bank and Cathay General Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
City Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cathay General Bancorp	$1.38 billion	2.58	$315.12 million	$4.54	11.58

Cathay General Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than City Bank.

Summary

Cathay General Bancorp beats City Bank on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About City Bank

As of April 17, 2010, City Bank was acquired by Whidbey Island Bank. City Bank offers commercial banking services. The company was incorporated in 1974 and is headquartered in Lynnwood, Washington.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits. It also provides loan products, such as commercial mortgage loans, commercial loans, small business administration loans, residential mortgage loans, real estate construction loans, and home equity lines of credit, as well as installment loans to individuals for household, and other consumer expenditures. In addition, the company offers trade financing, letter of credit, wire transfer, forward currency spot and forward contract, safe deposit, collection, automatic teller machine, Internet banking, investment, and other customary bank services, as well as securities and insurance products. Cathay General Bancorp was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.