Reviewing ICICI Bank (NYSE:IBN) & First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB)

First Republic Bank (OTCMKTS:FRCB – Get Rating) and ICICI Bank (NYSE:IBN – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

First Republic Bank has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICICI Bank has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for First Republic Bank and ICICI Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Republic Bank	0	0	0	0	N/A
ICICI Bank	0	0	1	0	3.00

Dividends

First Republic Bank pays an annual dividend of 1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 384.3%. ICICI Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. First Republic Bank pays out 14.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ICICI Bank pays out 9.7% 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. ICICI Bank has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares First Republic Bank and ICICI Bank’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Republic Bank	$6.75 billion	0.01	$1.67 billion	7.48	0.04
ICICI Bank	$1,356.35 billion	0.06	$4.25 billion	$1.13	20.04

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.2% of First Republic Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.9% of ICICI Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of First Republic Bank shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares First Republic Bank and ICICI Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Republic Bank	20.45%	11.26%	0.72%
ICICI Bank	22.29%	15.46%	1.73%

Summary

ICICI Bank beats First Republic Bank on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Republic Bank

(Get Rating)

First Republic offers banking for individuals and businesses, wealth management and more with a focus on tailored service and solutions. First Republic was founded in San Francisco in 1985 by James H. Herbert II with a single office and a small but dedicated staff. Years later, First Republic is one of the country’s largest banks, serving clients at more than 80 Preferred Banking Offices across the United States and through online banking services. First Republic prides itself on its convenient online presence, strong heritage and sustainable, client-centric approach that has provided consistent growth. First Republic Bank offers a full range of personal and business banking services including lending, deposit, foreign exchange and more, while First Republic Private Wealth Management provides trust, brokerage and wealth advisory services. Across all of its offerings, First Republic is committed to serving its stakeholders and clients with exceptional, personalized service, putting clients first in all that it does. Banking products and services are offered by First Republic Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. Investment Advisory services are provided by First Republic

About ICICI Bank

(Get Rating)

ICICI Bank Ltd. engages in the provision of banking and financial services, which includes retail banking, corporate banking, and treasury operations. It operates through the following segments: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, Treasury, Other Banking, Life Insurance, General Insurance, and Others. The Retail Banking segment includes exposures of the bank, which satisfy the four qualifying criteria of regulatory retail portfolio as stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India guidelines on the Basel III framework. The Wholesale Banking segment deals with all advances to trusts, partnership firms, companies, and statutory bodies, by the Bank which are not included in the Retail Banking segment. The Treasury segment handles the entire investment portfolio of the bank. The Other Banking segment comprises leasing operations and other items not attributable to any particular business segment of the bank. The company was founded on January 5, 1994 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.