Financial Comparison: CPB (NYSE:CPF) versus United Bankshares (NASDAQ:UBSI)

CPB (NYSE:CPF) and United Bankshares (NASDAQ:UBSI) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

CPB has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Bankshares has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for CPB and United Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CPB	0	1	2	2	3.20
United Bankshares	0	4	3	0	2.43

CPB presently has a consensus price target of $39.33, indicating a potential upside of 1.65%. United Bankshares has a consensus price target of $47.80, indicating a potential downside of 1.44%. Given CPB’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe CPB is more favorable than United Bankshares.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CPB and United Bankshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CPB	$365.98 million	2.72	$77.48 million	$3.12	12.40
United Bankshares	$1.82 billion	3.63	$464.60 million	$3.67	13.22

United Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than CPB. CPB is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

CPB pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. United Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. CPB pays out 37.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Bankshares pays out 41.4% 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. CPB has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and United Bankshares has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years. United Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.4% of CPB shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.8% of United Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of CPB shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of United Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares CPB and United Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CPB	22.52%	14.20%	1.13%
United Bankshares	27.97%	9.39%	1.53%

Summary

United Bankshares beats CPB on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CPB

Central Pacific Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Central Pacific Bank that provides a range of commercial banking products and services to businesses, professionals, and individuals in the United States. It offers various deposit products and services, including checking, savings and time deposits, cash management and digital banking, trust, and retail brokerage services, as well as money market accounts and certificates of deposit. The company also provides various lending activities, such as commercial, commercial and residential mortgage, home equity, and consumer loans; and other products and services comprising debit cards, internet and mobile banking, cash management services, full-service ATMs, safe deposit boxes, international banking services, night depository facilities, foreign exchange, and wire transfers. In addition, it offers wealth management products and services that include non-deposit investment products, annuities, insurance, investment management, asset custody and general consultation, and planning services. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

About United Bankshares

United Bankshares, Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily provides commercial and retail banking products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Community Banking and Mortgage Banking. The company accepts checking, savings, and time and money market accounts; individual retirement accounts; and demand deposits, statement and special savings, and NOW accounts. Its loan products include commercial loans and leases to small to mid-size industrial and commercial companies; construction and real estate loans, such as commercial and residential mortgages, and loans secured by owner-occupied real estate; personal, student, credit card receivables, personal, commercial, and floor plan loans; and home equity loans. In addition, the company provides credit cards; safe deposit boxes, wire transfers, and other banking products and services; investment and security services; services to correspondent banks, including buying and selling federal funds; automated teller machine services; and internet and telephone banking services. Further, it offers community banking services, such as asset management, real property title insurance, financial planning, mortgage banking, and brokerage services, as well as investment management and retirement planning services. United Bankshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia.