Reviewing Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) & First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA)

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) and Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Citizens BancShares and Customers Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Citizens BancShares	$12.09 billion	2.28	$11.47 billion	$174.55	10.92
Customers Bancorp	$1.44 billion	1.01	$250.14 million	$6.16	7.41

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for First Citizens BancShares and Customers Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Citizens BancShares	0	4	6	0	2.60
Customers Bancorp	0	4	3	1	2.63

First Citizens BancShares presently has a consensus target price of $2,025.90, indicating a potential upside of 6.29%. Customers Bancorp has a consensus target price of $61.88, indicating a potential upside of 35.51%. Given Customers Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Customers Bancorp is more favorable than First Citizens BancShares.

Profitability

This table compares First Citizens BancShares and Customers Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Citizens BancShares	17.36%	13.78%	1.33%
Customers Bancorp	15.22%	13.79%	1.01%

Risk & Volatility

First Citizens BancShares has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Customers Bancorp has a beta of 1.61, meaning that its share price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.2% of First Citizens BancShares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.3% of Customers Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.4% of First Citizens BancShares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.9% of Customers Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

First Citizens BancShares beats Customers Bancorp on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Citizens BancShares

First Citizens BancShares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and professionals. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts. Its loan product portfolio comprises commercial construction and mortgage; and commercial and industrial leases, as well as small business administration loans. In addition, the company offers consumer loans, such as residential and revolving mortgage, consumer auto, and other consumer loans. Further, it provides wealth management services, including annuities, brokerage services, and third-party mutual funds, as well as investment management and advisory services. The company provides its products and services through its branch network. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank that provides financial products and services to individual consumers, and small and middle market businesses. The company provides deposit banking products, which includes commercial and consumer checking, non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand, MMDA, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its lending business offers commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and multifamily and residential mortgage loans; SBA lending and financing; specialty lending includes fund finance, real estate specialty finance, technology and venture, and healthcare and financial institutions group; commercial loans to mortgage companies, and commercial equipment financing; and fund finance, such as variable rate loans secured by collateral pools to private debt funds; and cash management services. In addition, the company provides digital banking including Banking-as-a-Service to fintech companies, payments and treasury services to businesses, and consumer loans through fintech companies and the TassatPay, a blockchain-based instant B2B payments platform which offers instant payments including over-the-counter desks, exchanges, liquidity providers, market makers, funds, and other B2B verticals. Further, it offers mobile phone and internet banking, wire transfers, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, courier, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, positive pay, and cash management services, such as account reconciliation, collections, and sweep accounts. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in West Reading, Pennsylvania.