Recently there was a mention in the BusinessWeek that Spanish Banks seem to have “escaped” the sub-prime crisis. This was made possible due to savvy strategies followed by the managements of these banks.There are only two Spanish Banks listed in the US. Banks of Spain provide an indirect entry into the Latin American market as they have a presence there.Recently they are also trying to gain a foothold in the US banking market.

Details about the two banks are as follows (all data as of June 16,2008):

1.Company: Santander Finance Preferred SA
Ticker: STD
Price per share: $19.12
Dividend Yield: 8.99%

S&P rates STD as a five star stock.Santander is a giant bank with a market cap of over $120B and 6 Billion shares outstanding comparable to Bank of America (BAC). The stock is cheap with a PE of 10.33 whereas BAC has a PE of 12.56. Dividend yield is also higher than BAC. Over the past 52 weeks BAC has fallen over 40% but STD has been flat with a 3.93% growth. The 5 year earnings growth at 11.98% for STD is significantly higher than BAC(2.26%).

2.Company: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.
Ticker: BBV
Price per share: $20.63
Dividend Yield: 8.24%

Banco Bilbao stock has fallen just over 13% in the past 52 weeks.The 5-year Earnings growth is projected to be over 21%.PE is just 8.12. S&P rating is 4 stars.

Related Article:
1. From IBD – Spanish Bank Sticks To What It Knows Best And Spreads Globally