Critical Review: Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) versus Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE)

Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) and Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Hope Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hope Bancorp pays out 121.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Glacier Bancorp and Hope Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	1	2	1	3.00
Hope Bancorp	0	3	1	0	2.25

Glacier Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $56.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.44%. Hope Bancorp has a consensus target price of $13.75, indicating a potential upside of 14.77%. Given Hope Bancorp’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hope Bancorp is more favorable than Glacier Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hope Bancorp has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Hope Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	16.63%	6.68%	0.83%
Hope Bancorp	5.81%	5.09%	0.62%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Hope Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$1.44 billion	4.58	$239.03 million	$1.99	25.48
Hope Bancorp	$967.63 million	1.59	$61.59 million	$0.46	26.04

Glacier Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Hope Bancorp. Glacier Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hope Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Hope Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Hope Bancorp shares are held by 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.

Summary

Glacier Bancorp beats Hope Bancorp on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. It offers non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot acquisition loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. In addition, it offers commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; paycheck protection program loans; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Further, the company provides mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It has 224 locations, including 188 branches and 36 loan or administration offices in 75 counties within 8 states comprising Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada. The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

About Hope Bancorp

Hope Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Hope that provides retail and commercial banking services for businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts personal and business checking, money market, savings, time deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers loans comprising commercial and industrial loans to businesses for various purposes, such as working capital, purchasing inventory, debt refinancing, business acquisitions, international trade finance, other business-related financing, and loans syndication services; commercial real estate loans; residential mortgage loans; small business administration loans; and consumer loans, such as single-family mortgage, home equity, automobile, credit card, and personal loans. In addition, it provides internet banking and bill-pay, remote deposit capture, lock box, and ACH origination services; treasury management services; foreign currency exchange transactions; interest rate contracts and wealth management services; automated teller machine services; and engages in investment activities. Hope Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.