Head-To-Head Survey: Grupo Cibest (NYSE:CIB) versus China Merchants Bank (OTCMKTS:CIHKY)

China Merchants Bank (OTCMKTS:CIHKY) and Grupo Cibest (NYSE:CIB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for China Merchants Bank and Grupo Cibest, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
China Merchants Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00
Grupo Cibest	2	2	3	1	2.38

Grupo Cibest has a consensus price target of $48.00, suggesting a potential downside of 24.37%. Given Grupo Cibest’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Grupo Cibest is more favorable than China Merchants Bank.

Risk & Volatility

China Merchants Bank has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grupo Cibest has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares China Merchants Bank and Grupo Cibest”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
China Merchants Bank	$69.20 billion	2.42	$20.64 billion	$3.94	8.44
Grupo Cibest	$10.55 billion	1.45	$1.25 billion	$7.28	8.72

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

Dividends

China Merchants Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Grupo Cibest pays an annual dividend of $4.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.7%. China Merchants Bank pays out 29.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Grupo Cibest pays out 66.8% 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.

Profitability

This table compares China Merchants Bank and Grupo Cibest’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
China Merchants Bank	32.06%	12.04%	1.19%
Grupo Cibest	17.26%	22.58%	2.54%

Summary

Grupo Cibest beats China Merchants Bank on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About China Merchants Bank

China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services. It operates through Wholesale Finance Business, Retail Finance Business, and Other Business segments. The company offers current, demand, time, call, savings, notice, and renminbi accounts. Its loan products include personal commercial real estate, consumption, housing, and car loans; loans to finance for studying abroad; micro-business loans; mortgage loans for equipment; joint guarantee, special guarantee, and housing mortgage loan; bank acceptance, discount, liquid capital, and fixed asset loans; and loans for vessels. The company also offers credit cards; insurance products; open-ended funds; discount and guarantees for commercial bills, redemption of commercial bills, and guaranteed discount for commercial acceptance bills; and financial consultation, debt financing underwriting, merger and acquisition financing, and equity financing and enterprise listing services. In addition, it provides forfeiting and risk participation, escrow, cross-border RMB clearing, and interbank services; and risk and financial management, cross-border RMB and oversea financing, international factoring and settlement, and trade finance services. Further, the company offers financial leasing and guarantee, investment and wealth management, forex option and gold trading, forex express trading, international, offshore and private banking, custody, pension, and electronic banking services. The company also operates in Hong Kong, New York, London, Singapore, Luxembourg, Sydney, and Taipei. China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

About Grupo Cibest

Bancolombia S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services in Colombia and internationally. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other. It offers checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, time deposits, fixed term deposits, and investment products; trade financing, loans funded by domestic development banks, working capital loans, credit cards, personal and vehicle loans, payroll loans, and overdrafts; factoring; and financial and operating leasing services. The company provides hedging instruments, including futures, forwards, options, and swaps; and brokerage, investment advisory, and private banking services comprising selling and distributing equities, futures, foreign currencies, fixed income securities, mutual funds, and structured products. In addition, it offers cash management services; foreign currency and trade finance solutions; letters of credit and bills collection; insurance and bancassurance products; telephone and mobile phone banking services; and online and computer banking services. Further, the company provides project and acquisition finance, loan syndication, corporate loans, debt and equity capital markets, principal investments, mergers and acquisition, hedging strategy advisories, restructurings, and structured financing; mutual and pension funds, private equity funds, payment and corporate trust, and custody; internet-based trading platform; inter-bank lending and repurchase agreements; managing escrow accounts, and investment and real estate funds; credit cards; roadside and medical assistance services; and transportation, maintenance and remodeling, and outsourcing services, as well as provides technology services. Bancolombia S.A. was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Medellín, Colombia.