Credit Agricole (OTCMKTS:CRARY) & Bank of East Asia (OTCMKTS:BKEAY) Head-To-Head Survey

Credit Agricole (OTCMKTS:CRARY) and Bank of East Asia (OTCMKTS:BKEAY) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Credit Agricole has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of East Asia has a beta of 0.18, indicating that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.6% of Credit Agricole shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Credit Agricole and Bank of East Asia”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Credit Agricole	$31.76 billion	1.90	$8.00 billion	$1.20	8.29
Bank of East Asia	$4.96 billion	0.93	$449.18 million	N/A	N/A

Credit Agricole has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of East Asia.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Credit Agricole and Bank of East Asia, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Credit Agricole	0	4	1	0	2.20
Bank of East Asia	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Credit Agricole and Bank of East Asia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Credit Agricole	24.36%	24.26%	0.88%
Bank of East Asia	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Credit Agricole pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Bank of East Asia pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Credit Agricole pays out 33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Credit Agricole beats Bank of East Asia on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Credit Agricole

Crédit Agricole S.A. provides retail, corporate, insurance, and investment banking products and services in France and internationally. It operates through French Retail Banking Regional Banks; French Retail Banking – LCL; International Retail Banking; Asset Gathering; Large Customers; and Specialised Financial Services segments. The company offers banking products and services, finance, savings, wealth management, payment, and cash flow management services; consumer finance products; savings/retirement, death and disability/creditor/group, and property and casualty insurance products; investment solutions; and banking and specialized financial services. It also provides investment banking, structured finance, international trade finance, commercial banking, capital market, and syndication services; financing solutions for property and equipment investment and renewal requirements; trade receivable financing and management solutions for corporates; asset servicing solutions for investment products, as well as various asset classes, such as execution, clearing, forex, security lending and borrowing, custody, depositary bank, fund administration, middle-office outsourcing solutions, and fund distribution support and issuer services; and online banking services. The company serves retail customers, corporates, banks and financial institutions, government agencies, and local authorities. Crédit Agricole S.A. was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Montrouge, France. Crédit Agricole S.A. operates as a subsidiary of SAS Rue La Boetie.

About Bank of East Asia

The Bank of East Asia, Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking and related financial services. Its personal banking services include corporate, individual, savings, current, time deposit, and supreme accounts; and time deposits, foreign currency deposits, MAS services, and auto-payroll products, as well as safe deposit boxes and remittance services. The company also provides corporate banking services, such as SME loans and financing guarantee schemes; corporate and commercial financing products, including syndicated and construction loans, acquisition and structured financing, working capital financing, share financing and IPO-related loans, and commercial mortgages; trade finance services and expert trade solutions; factoring services; import and export trade finance; guarantee services; eTradeConnect that allows buyers and sellers to connect, transact, share information, and submit applications for financing through a single platform; cash management services; corporate wealth management products; foreign exchange and treasury products; and marine cargo, property, trade credit, employee compensation, life, savings, and endowment insurance plans. In addition, it offers private banking services comprising investment advisory services; investment solutions, such as unit trusts, linked deposits, currency trading and management, global equities and bonds investments, structured products, and options and derivatives; portfolio management services; securities and futures broking services; cyber banking, credit cards, and ATM; and various international services. The company operates outlets in Hong Kong, rest of Greater China, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Bank of East Asia, Limited was incorporated in 1918 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.