Head to Head Survey: Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) and Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN)

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) and Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Banco Santander and Southern Missouri Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Santander	0	4	11	0	2.73
Southern Missouri Bancorp	0	5	1	1	2.43

Banco Santander currently has a consensus price target of $15.10, suggesting a potential upside of 25.18%. Southern Missouri Bancorp has a consensus price target of $79.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.55%. Given Banco Santander’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Banco Santander is more favorable than Southern Missouri Bancorp.

Risk & Volatility

Banco Santander has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern Missouri Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Banco Santander and Southern Missouri Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Santander	$66.36 billion	2.67	$15.95 billion	$1.23	9.81
Southern Missouri Bancorp	$316.78 million	2.52	$71.84 million	$6.78	10.70

Banco Santander has higher revenue and earnings than Southern Missouri Bancorp. Banco Santander is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern Missouri Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Santander and Southern Missouri Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Santander	26.16%	12.51%	0.74%
Southern Missouri Bancorp	23.47%	13.02%	1.46%

Dividends

Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Southern Missouri Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Banco Santander pays out 16.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern Missouri Bancorp pays out 15.9% 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. Southern Missouri Bancorp has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

9.2% of Banco Santander shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.5% of Southern Missouri Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.5% of Banco Santander shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.6% of Southern Missouri Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Southern Missouri Bancorp beats Banco Santander on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander, S.A. provides various financial services worldwide. The company operates through Retail Banking, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, Wealth Management & Insurance, and PagoNxt segments. It offers demand and time deposits, mutual funds, and current and savings accounts; mortgages, consumer finance, loans, and various financing solutions; and project finance, debt capital markets, global transaction banking, and corporate finance services. The company also provides asset management and private banking services; and insurance products. In addition, it offers corporate and investment banking services; and digital payment solutions. Further, it offers online banking and financial services to retail, business, institutional, corporate, private banking and university customers and clients. The company was formerly known as Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and changed its name to Banco Santander, S.A. in February 2007. Banco Santander, S.A. was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

About Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern Bank that provides banking and financial services to individuals and corporate customers in the United States. The company offers deposits products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, saving accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement savings plans, and money market deposit accounts. It also provides loans, such as residential mortgage, commercial real estate, construction, and commercial business loans; and consumer loans comprising home equity, direct and indirect automobile loans, second mortgages, mobile home loans, and loans secured by deposits. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment management services; commercial and consumer insurance; online and mobile banking services; and debit or credit cards. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.