Head to Head Analysis: Barclays (NYSE:BCS) versus Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI)

Citizens Community Bancorp (NASDAQ:CZWI) and Barclays (NYSE:BCS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Citizens Community Bancorp and Barclays”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Community Bancorp	$98.77 million	2.06	$14.42 million	$1.31	16.11
Barclays	$38.42 billion	2.00	$9.46 billion	$2.68	8.57

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

Profitability

This table compares Citizens Community Bancorp and Barclays’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Community Bancorp	12.94%	6.77%	0.72%
Barclays	22.27%	8.80%	0.42%

Dividends

Citizens Community Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Barclays pays an annual dividend of $0.61 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Citizens Community Bancorp pays out 32.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Barclays pays out 22.8% 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. Citizens Community Bancorp has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Barclays is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

55.1% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.4% of Barclays shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Barclays shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Citizens Community Bancorp has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barclays has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Citizens Community Bancorp and Barclays, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Community Bancorp	0	4	1	0	2.20
Barclays	0	6	4	0	2.40

Citizens Community Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $23.50, suggesting a potential upside of 11.37%. Given Citizens Community Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Citizens Community Bancorp is more favorable than Barclays.

Summary

Barclays beats Citizens Community Bancorp on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens Community Bancorp

Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Community Federal N.A. that provides various traditional community banking services to businesses, agricultural operators, and consumers. It accepts various deposit products, including demand deposits, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also offers various loan products, such as commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, agricultural real estate, agricultural operating, and consumer loans; and one-to-four family residential mortgages and home equity lines-of-credit. In addition, it maintains a portfolio of investments comprising mortgage-backed, corporate asset-backed, U.S. Government sponsored agency, and corporate debt securities. Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

About Barclays

Barclays PLC provides various financial services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company operates through Barclays UK and Barclays International division segments. It offers financial services, such as retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services. In addition, the company engages in securities dealing activities. The company was formerly known as Barclays Bank Limited and changed its name to Barclays PLC in January 1985. Barclays PLC was founded in 1690 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.