Kingsway Financial Services (NYSE:KWY) and Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE:BLX) Head to Head Analysis

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE:BLX) and Kingsway Financial Services (NYSE:KWY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior and Kingsway Financial Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior	$836.85 million	2.47	$226.88 million	$6.06	9.18
Kingsway Financial Services	$134.97 million	2.07	-$10.73 million	($0.30)	-32.13

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior has higher revenue and earnings than Kingsway Financial Services. Kingsway Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior and Kingsway Financial Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior	0	0	0	1	4.00
Kingsway Financial Services	1	0	0	0	1.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

19.5% of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.4% of Kingsway Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 41.4% of Kingsway Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior and Kingsway Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior	27.77%	13.77%	1.75%
Kingsway Financial Services	-6.69%	-61.62%	-4.45%

Risk and Volatility

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kingsway Financial Services has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior beats Kingsway Financial Services on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A., a multinational bank, primarily engages in the financing of foreign trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates in two segments, Commercial and Treasury. It offers bilateral loans; structured loans including syndicated and clubbed, such as acquisition and pre-export financing, A/B loan financing, bridge loans, and liability management; and project financing. The company also provides letter of credit comprising import and export letters of credit, and credit discounting and financing, as well as usance payable at sight; stand-by services; bank guarantees, including first demand and local guarantees; import and export documentary collection; irrevocable reimbursement undertaking; and canal tolls. In addition, it offers liquidity and investment solutions, such as time deposits, DDA accounts, Yankee certificate of deposits, and EMTN private placement services, as well as supply chain finance services. The company primarily serves financial institutions, corporations, and sovereigns and state-owned entities. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A.was formerly known as Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones, S.A. and changed its name to Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. in June 2009. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Panama City, the Republic of Panama.

About Kingsway Financial Services

Kingsway Financial Services Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the extended warranty business services, asset management, and real estate businesses. The company operates through three segments: Extended Warranty, Leased Real Estate, and Kingsway Search Xcelerator. The Extended Warranty segment markets, sells, and administers vehicle service agreements and related products for new and used automobiles, motorcycles, and ATVs. This segment also sells new home warranty products, as well as offers uninsured warrant administration services to homebuilders and homeowners; markets and distributes warranty products to manufacturers, distributors, and installers of heating, ventilation and air conditioning, standby generator, commercial LED lighting, and commercial refrigeration equipment; and provides equipment breakdown and maintenance support services to companies. The Leased Real Estate segment owns a parcel of real property consisting of approximately 192 acres located in the State of Texas. The Kingsway Search Xcelerator offers outsourced finance and human resources consulting services, including operational accounting, such as bookkeeping, accounting, financial reporting, and analysis and strategic finance services; technical accounting comprising initial public offerings, SEC reporting, and international consolidation services; human resources, workforce management, and compliance support services; and advisory services. The company offers its products and services through credit unions, dealers, homebuilders, and consumers. Kingsway Financial Services Inc. was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Itasca, Illinois.