United Community Banks (UCBI) Competitors

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Is FBP or UCBI more profitable?

First BanCorp. has a net margin of 25.82% compared to First BanCorp.'s net margin of 13.62%. United Community Banks' return on equity of 21.58% beat First BanCorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First BanCorp.	25.82%	21.58%	1.62%
United Community Banks	13.62%	8.02%	0.93%

Do analysts prefer FBP or UCBI?

First BanCorp. currently has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.33%. United Community Banks has a consensus price target of $30.60, indicating a potential upside of 16.44%. Given First BanCorp.'s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than First BanCorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First BanCorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
United Community Banks	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Is FBP or UCBI a better dividend stock?

First BanCorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. First BanCorp. pays out 36.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Community Banks pays out 59.7% 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. First BanCorp. has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and United Community Banks has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. First BanCorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, FBP or UCBI?

First BanCorp. has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer FBP or UCBI?

In the previous week, First BanCorp. had 4 more articles in the media than United Community Banks. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for First BanCorp. and 3 mentions for United Community Banks. First BanCorp.'s average media sentiment score of 2.06 beat United Community Banks' score of 0.74 indicating that United Community Banks is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First BanCorp.	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
United Community Banks	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, FBP or UCBI?

First BanCorp. has higher revenue and earnings than United Community Banks. First BanCorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First BanCorp.	$1.16B	2.62	$302.86M	$1.75	10.23
United Community Banks	$870.01M	3.57	$187.54M	$1.54	16.95

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of FBP or UCBI?

97.9% of First BanCorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of First BanCorp. shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of United Community Banks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FBP or UCBI?

United Community Banks received 24 more outperform votes than First BanCorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.26% of users gave First BanCorp. an outperform vote while only 56.43% of users gave United Community Banks an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First BanCorp.	Outperform Votes 283 61.26%	Underperform Votes 179 38.74%
United Community Banks	Outperform Votes 307 56.43%	Underperform Votes 237 43.57%

Summary

First BanCorp. beats United Community Banks on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.