Head-To-Head Survey: Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FMCB) & Comerica (NYSE:CMA)

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FMCB) and Comerica (NYSE:CMA) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and dividends.

Dividends

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $16.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Comerica pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Comerica pays out 29.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Comerica has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Comerica is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bancorp and Comerica’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	$204.59 million	3.48	$75.09 million	N/A	N/A
Comerica	$3.92 billion	1.64	$1.15 billion	$9.58	5.08

Comerica has higher revenue and earnings than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.9% of Comerica shares are held by institutional investors. 8.2% of Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Comerica shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Farmers & Merchants Bancorp and Comerica, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Comerica	2	6	11	1	2.55

Comerica has a consensus target price of $62.49, indicating a potential upside of 28.31%. Given Comerica’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Comerica is more favorable than Farmers & Merchants Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Farmers & Merchants Bancorp and Comerica’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A
Comerica	27.01%	25.54%	1.47%

Summary

Comerica beats Farmers & Merchants Bancorp on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Central California that provides various banking services to businesses and individuals. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, time certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. It also offers range of lending products comprising commercial, commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, agribusiness, and consumer loans, as well as equipment leases and credit card services; commercial products, including term loans, lines of credit and other working capital financing, and letters of credit; and financing products, such as automobile financing, home improvement, and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company provides various specialized services consisting of credit card programs for merchants, lockbox and other collection services, account reconciliation, investment sweep, online account access, and electronic funds transfers through domestic and international wire and automated clearinghouse; and online banking services. Further, it offers investment products, such as mutual funds and annuities. The company was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Lodi, California.

About Comerica

Comerica Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services. The company operates through Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Wealth Management, and Finance segments. The Commercial Bank segment offers various products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services, as well as payment and card services for small and middle market businesses, multinational corporations, and governmental entities. The Retail Bank segment provides personal financial services, such as consumer lending, consumer deposit gathering, and mortgage loan origination; and various consumer products that include deposit accounts, installment loans, credit cards, student loans, home equity lines of credit, and residential mortgage loans, as well as commercial products and services to micro-businesses. The Wealth Management segment offers products and services comprising fiduciary, private banking, retirement, investment management and advisory, and investment banking and brokerage services; and sells annuity products, as well as life, disability, and long-term care insurance products. The Finance segment engages in the securities portfolio, and asset and liability management activities. It operates in Texas, California, Michigan, Arizona, Florida, Canada, and Mexico. The company was formerly known as DETROITBANK Corporation and changed its name to Comerica Incorporated in July 1982. Comerica Incorporated was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.