How Has Popular Performed in a Competitive Market?

In this part of the series, we’ll compare Popular (BPOP) with its peers.

• The forward PE (price-to-earnings) ratios of Popular (BPOP), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), BB&T (BBT), M&T Bank (MTB), and Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK) are 8.04x, 10.15x, 11.75x, 13.56x, and 21.01x, respectively.
• The PBV (price-to-book value) ratios of Popular, Bank of Nova Scotia, BB&T, M&T Bank, and Bank of the Ozarks are 0.64x, 1.54x, 1.21x, 1.42x, and 3.65x, respectively.

• The EPS (earnings per share) of Popular, Bank of Nova Scotia, BB&T, M&T Bank, and Bank of the Ozarks are $0.82, $1.45, $0.64, $2.10, and $0.52, respectively, in 3Q15.

Based on PE and PBV, Popular’s competitors have outperformed.

The First Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank ETF (QABA) invests 1.9% of its holdings in Popular. QABA tracks an index of NASDAQ-listed banks and thrifts, excluding the 50 largest.

The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) invests 1.7% of its holdings in Popular. The ETF tracks an equal-weighted index of US banking firms.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) invests 1.5% of its holdings in Popular. The ETF tracks an equal-weighted index of US regional banking stocks.

Now let’s compare Popular to the ETFs that invest in it.

• The year-to-date price movements of Popular, QABA, KBE, and KRE are -10.7%, 7.5%, 2.8%, and 4.9%, respectively.
• The PE ratios of Popular, QABA, KBE, and KRE are 4.21x, 17.00x, 14.01x, and 15.38x, respectively.
• The PBV ratios of Popular, QABA, KBE, and KRE are 0.64x, 1.39x, 1.21x, and 1.26x, respectively.

The ETFs have outperformed Popular based on price movement, PE, and PBV.