Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) Competitors

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, community ranking, risk and institutional ownership.

Which has more volatility and risk, CBSH or WAL?

Commerce Bancshares has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CBSH or WAL?

Western Alliance Bancorporation has higher revenue and earnings than Commerce Bancshares. Western Alliance Bancorporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Commerce Bancshares, 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
Commerce Bancshares	$1.95B	3.78	$477.06M	$3.59	15.89
Western Alliance Bancorporation	$4.32B	1.66	$722.40M	$6.86	9.47

Is CBSH or WAL a better dividend stock?

Commerce Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Commerce Bancshares pays out 30.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 21.6% 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. Commerce Bancshares has raised its dividend for 56 consecutive years and Western Alliance Bancorporation has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Western Alliance Bancorporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in CBSH or WAL?

70.3% of Commerce Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Commerce Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to CBSH or WAL?

In the previous week, Western Alliance Bancorporation had 3 more articles in the media than Commerce Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Western Alliance Bancorporation and 7 mentions for Commerce Bancshares. Western Alliance Bancorporation's average media sentiment score of 0.83 beat Commerce Bancshares' score of 0.37 indicating that Commerce Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Commerce Bancshares	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Western Alliance Bancorporation	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CBSH or WAL?

Western Alliance Bancorporation received 213 more outperform votes than Commerce Bancshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.41% of users gave Western Alliance Bancorporation an outperform vote while only 45.67% of users gave Commerce Bancshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Commerce Bancshares	Outperform Votes 295 45.67%	Underperform Votes 351 54.33%
Western Alliance Bancorporation	Outperform Votes 508 66.41%	Underperform Votes 257 33.59%

Is CBSH or WAL more profitable?

Commerce Bancshares has a net margin of 23.33% compared to Commerce Bancshares' net margin of 16.50%. Western Alliance Bancorporation's return on equity of 16.78% beat Commerce Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Commerce Bancshares	23.33%	16.78%	1.49%
Western Alliance Bancorporation	16.50%	14.77%	1.16%

Do analysts recommend CBSH or WAL?

Commerce Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $55.29, indicating a potential downside of 2.94%. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a consensus price target of $72.47, indicating a potential upside of 11.56%. Given Commerce Bancshares' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Western Alliance Bancorporation is more favorable than Commerce Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Commerce Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17
Western Alliance Bancorporation	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Summary

Western Alliance Bancorporation beats Commerce Bancshares on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.