CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) Head to Head Survey

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.2% of CVB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of CVB Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

CVB Financial has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for CVB Financial and Western Alliance Bancorporation, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CVB Financial	0	1	3	0	2.75
Western Alliance Bancorporation	0	5	9	0	2.64

CVB Financial presently has a consensus price target of $24.50, indicating a potential upside of 20.39%. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a consensus price target of $92.93, indicating a potential upside of 18.08%. Given CVB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe CVB Financial is more favorable than Western Alliance Bancorporation.

Profitability

This table compares CVB Financial and Western Alliance Bancorporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CVB Financial	32.05%	9.16%	1.34%
Western Alliance Bancorporation	17.03%	13.58%	1.09%

Dividends

CVB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. CVB Financial pays out 52.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 19.6% 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. Western Alliance Bancorporation has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CVB Financial and Western Alliance Bancorporation”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CVB Financial	$520.90 million	6.89	$209.30 million	$1.52	13.39
Western Alliance Bancorporation	$3.71 billion	2.31	$969.00 million	$8.59	9.16

Western Alliance Bancorporation has higher revenue and earnings than CVB Financial. Western Alliance Bancorporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CVB Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Western Alliance Bancorporation beats CVB Financial on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a state-chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. It offers checking, savings, money market, and time certificates of deposit products for business and personal accounts; and serves as a federal tax depository for business customers. The company also provides commercial lending products comprising lines of credit and other working capital financing, accounts receivable lending, and letters of credit; agriculture loans to finance the operating needs of wholesale dairy farm operations, cattle feeders, livestock raisers, and farmers; lease financing services for municipal governments; commercial real estate and construction loans; and consumer financing products, including automobile leasing and financing, lines of credit, credit cards, home mortgages, and home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it offers various specialized services, such as treasury management systems for monitoring cash flow, merchant card processing program, armored pick-up and delivery, payroll services, remote deposit capture, electronic funds transfers, wires and automated clearinghouse, and online account access. Further, the company provides trust services, such as fiduciary services, mutual funds, annuities, 401(k) plans, and individual investment accounts. CVB Financial Corp. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Ontario, California.

About Western Alliance Bancorporation

Western Alliance Bancorporation operates as the bank holding company for Western Alliance Bank that provides various banking products and related services primarily in Arizona, California, and Nevada. It operates through Commercial and Consumer Related segments. The company offers deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as fixed-rate and fixed maturity certificates of deposit accounts; demand deposits; and treasury management and residential mortgage products and services. It also provides commercial and industrial loan products, such as working capital lines of credit, loans to technology companies, inventory and accounts receivable lines, mortgage warehouse lines, equipment loans and leases, and other commercial loans; commercial real estate loans, which are secured by multi-family residential properties, professional offices, industrial facilities, retail centers, hotels, and other commercial properties; construction and land development loans for single family and multi-family residential projects, industrial/warehouse properties, office buildings, retail centers, medical office facilities, and residential lot developments; and consumer loans. In addition, the company provides other financial services, such as internet banking, wire transfers, electronic bill payment and presentment, funds transfer and other digital payment offerings, lock box services, courier, and cash management services. Further, the company holds certain investment securities, municipal and non-profit loans, and leases; invests primarily in low-income housing tax credits and small business investment corporations; and holds certain real estate loans and related securities. Western Alliance Bancorporation was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.