Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE:MFG) & Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) Head-To-Head Review

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC – Get Rating) and Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE:MFG – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Nicolet Bankshares and Mizuho Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nicolet Bankshares	0	0	0	0	N/A
Mizuho Financial Group	0	1	2	0	2.67

Nicolet Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 52.49%. Given Nicolet Bankshares’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Nicolet Bankshares is more favorable than Mizuho Financial Group.

Risk and Volatility

Nicolet Bankshares has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mizuho Financial Group has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

37.4% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.5% of Mizuho Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 18.1% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Mizuho Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nicolet Bankshares and Mizuho Financial Group’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nicolet Bankshares	$331.84 million	2.47	$94.26 million	$4.24	13.15
Mizuho Financial Group	$35.30 billion	1.08	-$932.03 million	$0.36	8.33

Nicolet Bankshares has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Mizuho Financial Group. Mizuho Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nicolet Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Nicolet Bankshares and Mizuho Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nicolet Bankshares	18.92%	10.53%	1.18%
Mizuho Financial Group	9.72%	6.12%	0.23%

Summary

Nicolet Bankshares beats Mizuho Financial Group on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nicolet Bankshares

(Get Rating)

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial and consumer banking services through its subsidiary. It offers lending and deposit gathering, ancillary banking-related, trust, brokerage, and other investment management products and services. The firm also delivers commercial-related and residential real estate loans. The company was founded by Robert Bruc Atwell and Michael Edward Daniels on April 5, 2000 and is headquartered in Green Bay, WI.

About Mizuho Financial Group

(Get Rating)

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. operates as a holding company which engages in the provision of financial services such as banking, trust banking, securities, and others. It operates through the following segments: Mizuho Bank Ltd. (MHKB), Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. (MHTB), and Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. (MHSC). The Mizuho Bank Ltd. segment includes personal, retail, corporate, international banking, financial institutions, public sector, and trading services. The Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. provides services related to trust, real estate, securitization, structured finance, pension and asset management, and stock transfer agency. The Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. offers security services to individuals, corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.