Agri Bank China (OTCMKTS:ACGBY) & KBC Group (OTCMKTS:KBCSY) Head to Head Contrast

KBC Group (OTCMKTS:KBCSY) and Agri Bank China (OTCMKTS:ACGBY) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for KBC Group and Agri Bank China, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KBC Group	1	4	1	0	2.00
Agri Bank China	0	1	0	1	3.00

Profitability

This table compares KBC Group and Agri Bank China’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KBC Group	14.98%	13.15%	0.92%
Agri Bank China	21.45%	9.35%	0.61%

Volatility and Risk

KBC Group has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agri Bank China has a beta of 0.11, meaning that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares KBC Group and Agri Bank China”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KBC Group	$26.56 billion	2.19	$4.04 billion	$5.04	13.82
Agri Bank China	$188.76 billion	1.35	$40.48 billion	$2.78	6.55

Agri Bank China has higher revenue and earnings than KBC Group. Agri Bank China is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than KBC Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

KBC Group pays an annual dividend of $3.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Agri Bank China pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. KBC Group pays out 63.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Agri Bank China pays out 25.9% 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.

Summary

KBC Group beats Agri Bank China on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About KBC Group

KBC Group NV, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated bank-insurance services primarily for retail, private banking, small and medium sized enterprises, and mid-cap clients. The company offers demand deposits and savings accounts; home and mortgage loans; consumer finance and SME funding services; credit, investment fund and asset management, and life and non-life insurance; and cash management, payments, trade finance, lease, money market, capital market products, and stockbroking services. It also provides digital and mobile banking services. The company was formerly known as KBC Bank and Insurance Holding Company NV and changed its name to KBC Group NV in March 2005. KBC Group NV was incorporated in 1935 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

About Agri Bank China

Agricultural Bank of China Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services. The company operates through Corporate Banking, Personal Banking, and Treasury Operations segments. It offers demand, personal call, foreign currency call, time or demand optional, foreign exchange call, foreign exchange time, savings, agreed term, and negotiated deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and loans, including housing, consumer, business, fixed asset, working capital, real estate, and entrusted syndicated loans, as well as trade finances, guarantees and commitments, and loans with custody of export rebates accounts. The company provides credit card, debit card, payment and settlement, private banking, cash management, investment banking, custody, financial market, and financial institution services, as well as trading and wealth management services; and personal fund collection and automatic transfer services. In addition, it offers agro-related personal and corporate banking products and services; telephone, mobile, self-service, television, and SMS banking services; financial leasing services; fund management services; asset custodian services; and insurance and reinsurance related products and services. The company operates domestic branches, including specialized institutions, training institutes, tier-1 branches, tier-2 branches, tier-1 sub-branches, foundation-level branch outlets and other establishments; overseas branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, New York, Dubai International Financial Centre, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Sydney, Luxemburg, Dubai, London, Macao, and Hanoi; and overseas representative offices in Vancouver, Taipei, Sao Paulo, and Dushanbe. The company was founded in 1951 and is based in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.