Head to Head Survey: JAPAN POST BANK (OTCMKTS:JPPTY) & United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB)

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and JAPAN POST BANK (OTCMKTS:JPPTY) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for United Community Banks and JAPAN POST BANK, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	3	4	1	2.75
JAPAN POST BANK	0	1	1	0	2.50

United Community Banks presently has a consensus target price of $38.80, indicating a potential upside of 10.16%. Given United Community Banks’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than JAPAN POST BANK.

Dividends

United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. JAPAN POST BANK pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. United Community Banks pays out 32.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United Community Banks and JAPAN POST BANK”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$1.54 billion	2.76	$328.10 million	$3.04	11.59
JAPAN POST BANK	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than JAPAN POST BANK.

Profitability

This table compares United Community Banks and JAPAN POST BANK’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	24.43%	9.61%	1.24%
JAPAN POST BANK	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Community Banks 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.

Summary

United Community Banks beats JAPAN POST BANK on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. It also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, the company originate loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, it provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, the company offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. It operates through a network of 171 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. United Community Banks, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.

About JAPAN POST BANK

JAPAN POST BANK Co., Ltd. provides various banking products and services to retail and corporate clients in Japan and internationally. The company offers liquid deposits, including transfer deposits, savings deposits, ordinary deposits, etc.; fixed-term deposits, such as time deposits, TEIGAKU deposits, etc.; and other deposits, as well as negotiable certificates of deposit. It also provides loans to individuals, small and medium-size enterprises, and others; syndicated loans; and other lending. In addition, the company offers securities investment products, domestic and foreign exchange services, Japanese government bonds, investment trust products, and insurance products; and intermediary services, such as mortgage and credit card services. Further, it provides overdraft lending services; remittance and settlement services; and internet banking services. The company was formerly known as Yucho Co, Ltd. and changed its name to JAPAN POST BANK Co., Ltd. in October 2007. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. JAPAN POST BANK Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd.