Critical Comparison: Comerica (NYSE:CMA) & Jeffersonville Bancorp (OTCMKTS:JFBC)

Jeffersonville Bancorp (OTCMKTS:JFBC) and Comerica (NYSE:CMA) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Jeffersonville Bancorp	$32.18 million	2.63	$11.18 million	$2.48	8.07
Comerica	$5.25 billion	1.66	$881.00 million	$4.00	16.56

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

Dividends

Jeffersonville Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Comerica pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Jeffersonville Bancorp pays out 24.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Comerica pays out 71.0% 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

80.7% of Comerica shares are held by institutional investors. 8.4% of Jeffersonville Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Comerica shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Jeffersonville Bancorp and Comerica’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jeffersonville Bancorp	N/A	12.96%	1.52%
Comerica	11.17%	12.54%	0.94%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Jeffersonville Bancorp and Comerica, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jeffersonville Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Comerica	3	11	8	0	2.23

Comerica has a consensus target price of $67.71, suggesting a potential upside of 2.22%. Given Comerica’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Comerica is more favorable than Jeffersonville Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

Jeffersonville Bancorp has a beta of 0.33, indicating that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Comerica has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Comerica beats Jeffersonville Bancorp on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Jeffersonville Bancorp

Jeffersonville Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Jeff Bank that provides community banking services to individuals, small businesses, and local municipal governments primarily in Sullivan County, New York. The company offers various deposit products, such as checking, money market, savings, and NOW, as well as demand and time deposits. It also offers commercial mortgage, farmland, construction, real estate, agricultural, residential mortgage, home equity, consumer, installment, and other consumer loans. The company was founded in 1913 and is based in Jeffersonville, New York.

About Comerica

Comerica Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services. The company operates through Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Wealth Management, and Finance segments. The Commercial Bank segment offers various products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, payment solutions, card services, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services for small and middle market businesses, multinational corporations, and governmental entities. The Retail Bank segment provides personal financial services, such as consumer lending, consumer deposit gathering, and mortgage loan origination; and various consumer products that include deposit accounts, installment loans, credit cards, student loans, home equity lines of credit, and residential mortgage loans. The Wealth Management segment offers products and services comprising financial planning, trust and fiduciary services, investment management and advisory, brokerage, private banking, and business transition planning services for affluents, high-net worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, business owners, and executives, and institutional clients. The Finance segment comprises securities portfolio, and asset and liability management activities. It operates in Texas, California, Michigan, Arizona, and Florida, the United States; and Canada and Mexico. The company was formerly known as DETROITBANK Corporation and changed its name to Comerica Incorporated in July 1982. Comerica Incorporated was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.