Financial Contrast: Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:SVNLY) vs. Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:SVNLY) and Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dime Community Bancshares has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) and Dime Community Bancshares’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ)	$16.45 billion	1.17	$2.74 billion	$0.69	7.06
Dime Community Bancshares	$336.71 million	2.58	$96.09 million	$1.78	12.51

Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) has higher revenue and earnings than Dime Community Bancshares. Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dime Community Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.3% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.1% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) and Dime Community Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ)	14.98%	13.76%	0.75%
Dime Community Bancshares	9.98%	6.58%	0.54%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) and Dime Community Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ)	0	0	0	0	N/A
Dime Community Bancshares	0	1	3	0	2.75

Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus target price of $27.25, indicating a potential upside of 22.42%. Given Dime Community Bancshares’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Dime Community Bancshares is more favorable than Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ).

Dividends

Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.8%. Dime Community Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) pays out 55.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dime Community Bancshares pays out 56.2% 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. Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Dime Community Bancshares beats Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ)

Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) provides various banking products and services for private and corporate customers primarily in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, the United States, Luxembourg, Finland, and Poland. The company offers savings, transactions, business, currency, and investment accounts, as well as accounts for cash pool, and forestry and agriculture; mortgage and committed loans, and private loans; mutual funds; pension products; credit and debit cards; and payment and reconciliation services, as well as foreign exchange rate services. It also provides financing for investments, such as equipment, cars, computers, and other inventories, as well as vehicle and real estate financing services; green loans and advisor services; investment and other financing services; medical care, and group and health insurance products; forestry and farming banking products; and online and mobile banking services, as well as various banking services for children and young people. In addition, the company offers financial services, that includes asset management, transactional banking, corporate finance, financing, markets, trade finance, market information and research services to large corporations; cash management solutions; and various corporate banking services to small and medium-sized companies and large corporates, as well as private banking services. Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) was incorporated in 1871 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Dime Community Bank that engages in the provision of various commercial banking and financial services. The company accepts time, savings, and demand deposits from the businesses, consumers, and local municipalities. It also offers commercial real estate loans; multi-family mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; letters of credit; secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans; lines of credit; home equity loans; and construction and land loans. In addition, the company invests in Federal Home Loan Bank, Federal National Mortgage Association, Government National Mortgage Association, and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other asset backed securities; U.S. Treasury securities; New York state and local municipal obligations; U.S. government-sponsored enterprise securities; and corporate bonds. Further, it offers certificate of deposit account registry services and insured cash sweep programs; federal deposit insurance corporation insurance; merchant credit and debit card processing, automated teller machines, cash management services, lockbox processing, online banking services, remote deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, and individual retirement accounts; investment products and services through a third-party broker dealer; and title insurance broker services for small and medium sized businesses, and municipal and consumer relationships. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.