UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) versus SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) Critical Comparison

UniCredit (OTCMKTS:UNCRY) and SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for UniCredit and SmartFinancial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UniCredit	0	0	0	0	N/A
SmartFinancial	0	3	1	1	2.60

SmartFinancial has a consensus target price of $27.00, suggesting a potential downside of 12.90%. Given SmartFinancial’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SmartFinancial is more favorable than UniCredit.

Profitability

This table compares UniCredit and SmartFinancial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UniCredit	N/A	N/A	N/A
SmartFinancial	9.93%	6.55%	0.62%

Dividends

UniCredit pays an annual dividend of $0.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. SmartFinancial pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. SmartFinancial pays out 20.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Volatility & Risk

UniCredit has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SmartFinancial has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares UniCredit and SmartFinancial”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UniCredit	$26.50 billion	2.71	$9.32 billion	N/A	N/A
SmartFinancial	$151.31 million	3.50	$28.59 million	$1.56	19.87

UniCredit has higher revenue and earnings than SmartFinancial.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.3% of UniCredit shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.8% of SmartFinancial shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of SmartFinancial 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.

Summary

SmartFinancial beats UniCredit on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UniCredit

UniCredit S.p.A. provides commercial banking services in Italy, Germany, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe. It offers retail, private, and wealth management solutions; and institutional investor solutions. The company also provides corporate finance advisory, rating advisory, financial sponsor, patient capital, capital structure advisory, and finance solutions, as well as securities services. In addition, it offers transactional and risk management, and strategic advisory and funding services; group trade and correspondent banking services; and payments and cash management solutions. The company serves SME, corporate, multinational corporate, financial institution, and public sector clients, as well as retail, private banking, wealth management, and family office clients. The company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments. The company offers noninterest-bearing and interest-bearing checking, interest-bearing demand, savings, money market, time deposit, individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial and residential real estate, consumer real estate, and construction and land development loans; commercial and financial loans and leases; commercial business and mortgage loans; and direct consumer installment, educational, agriculture, and other revolving credit loans; equipment financing, heavy equipment, semis, and trailers loans and leases to small and mid-size companies; letters of credit; and overdraft facilities. In addition, the company offers wealth management, insurance, mortgage origination, and internet and mobile banking services. SmartFinancial, Inc. is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee.