Reviewing International Bancshares (NASDAQ:IBOC) and Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN)

Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) and International Bancshares (NASDAQ:IBOC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.7% of Citizens shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.9% of International Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Citizens shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.5% of International Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Citizens and International Bancshares’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens	$40.95 million	1.05	$1.85 million	$0.33	23.18
International Bancshares	$970.10 million	3.54	$411.77 million	$6.62	8.34

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Citizens and International Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens	0	0	0	0	N/A
International Bancshares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Profitability

This table compares Citizens and International Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens	3.09%	4.81%	0.14%
International Bancshares	42.45%	18.32%	2.75%

Dividends

Citizens pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.4%. International Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Citizens pays out 193.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. International Bancshares pays out 19.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. International Bancshares has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Summary

International Bancshares beats Citizens on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens

Citizens Holding Company operates as the bank holding company for The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia that provides various commercial and personal banking products and services. It offers demand deposits; and savings and time deposit accounts. The company also provides secured and unsecured loans; mortgage loans; single and multi-family housing, farm, residential and commercial construction, and commercial real estate loans; commercial, industrial, and agricultural production loans; and consumer loans, as well as issues letters of credit. In addition, it offers personal and corporate trust services; credit life and title insurance; and internet and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

About International Bancshares

International Bancshares Corporation, a financial holding company, provides commercial and retail banking services in Texas and the State of Oklahoma. It accepts checking and saving deposits; and offers commercial, real estate, personal, home improvement, automobile, and other installment and term loans. The company also provides international banking services, including letters of credit, commercial and industrial loans, and foreign exchange services. In addition, it offers other banking related services, such as credit cards, safety deposit boxes, collection, notary public, escrow, drive up and walk up facilities, and other customary banking services; and Internet banking services, as well as securities products through third party providers. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Laredo, Texas.