BCS vs HSBC vs SYF Stock Comparison

Barclays, Hsbc Holdings and Synchrony Financial Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
BCS Barclays Plc
$22.45 -9.5% 1M +5.5% 1Y
Market cap
$77.83B
P/E
7.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$41.50B
Div. yield
2.76%
Money Center Banks Financial Services
1 win
HSBC Hsbc Holdings Plc
$86.01 -14.8% 1M +28.0% 1Y
Market cap
$295.45B
P/E
11.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$55.16B
Div. yield
4.36%
Money Center Banks Financial Services
7 wins
SYF Synchrony Financial
$74.99 +2.8% 1M +0.0% 1Y
Market cap
$23.32B
P/E
7.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$19.31B
Div. yield
1.65%
Consumer Lending Financial Services
2 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

Hsbc Holdings leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Hsbc Holdings 7, Synchrony Financial 2, Barclays 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBCSHSBCSYFLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $77.83B $295.45B $23.32B HSBC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 7.4x 11.3x 7.4x BCS
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 7.7x 9.5x 7.6x SYF
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.5% +1,900.0% +2.6% HSBC
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 26.0% 47.9% 16.8% HSBC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — 25.7% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — -0.9x –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 2.76% 4.36% 1.65% HSBC
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +5.5% +28.0% +0.0% HSBC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +14.9%/yr +23.1%/yr +9.9%/yr HSBC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 31.0% 28.3% 31.6% HSBC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 50/100 65/100 80/100 SYF

Percentile Scorecard

BCSHSBCSYF

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisBCSHSBCSYF
Valuation 99 #6 of 360 13 #313 of 360 95 #10 of 169
Growth 71 #56 of 191 70 #58 of 191 50 #80 of 160
Profitability 19 #136 of 168 86 #25 of 168 90 #16 of 149
Financial Health 2 #172 of 175 – 78 #36 of 158
Shareholder Returns 62 #132 of 341 90 #34 of 341 86 #20 of 136
Overall 50 65 80
  • BCS ranked among 368 companies in Banking
  • HSBC ranked among 368 companies in Banking
  • SYF ranked among 174 companies in Lending and Credit

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodBCSHSBCSYFSPY
1 month -9.5%-14.8%+2.8% -0.2%
3 months -16.8%-17.0%-2.8% +3.9%
6 months -2.4%-4.4%-1.7% +8.2%
Year to date -11.8%+9.3%-10.1% +12.9%
1 year +5.5%+28.0%+0.0% +12.3%
3 years +259.8%+134.3%+167.0% +87.4%
3 years, per year +53.3%+32.8%+38.8% +23.3%
5 years +100.4%+182.8%+60.0% +67.9%
5 years, per year +14.9%+23.1%+9.9% +10.9%
10 years +142.2%+126.2%+159.1% +261.1%
10 years, per year +9.2%+8.5%+10.0% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureBCSHSBCSYFSPY
Volatility, 1Y 31.0%28.3%31.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 31.8%28.1%36.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.601.261.18 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.180.990.00 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -50.0%-34.6%-46.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -21.4%-20.3%-15.2% -1.2%
52-week high $28.56$107.85$88.47 $779.14
52-week low $20.07$67.20$63.78 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleBCSHSBCSYF
P/E now vs peer median 7.4xmedian 12.1x 11.3xmedian 12.1x 7.4xmedian 11.1x
P/S now vs peer median 1.9xmedian 3.4x 5.4xmedian 3.4x 1.2xmedian 2.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 5.0x —median 5.0x 1.8xmedian 13.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median —median 10.9x —median 10.9x 2.4xmedian 7.0x
P/B now vs peer median 0.8xmedian 1.2x 1.5xmedian 1.2x 1.4xmedian 0.7x
PEG now vs peer median 0.41median 1.34 3.03median 1.34 0.34median 0.32

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsBCSHSBCSYF
Revenue $41.50B $55.16B $19.31B
Operating income – $33.06B –
Net income $10.83B $28.08B $3.33B
Free cash flow – – $9.56B
EPS (diluted) $2.95 $7.53 $10.06
Cash & equivalents $335.17B $222.46B $15.90B
Total debt $302.10B – $8.11B
Shares (diluted) 3.65B 3.51B 322.40M
Enterprise value -$1.63T -$1.81T -$44.30B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricBCSHSBCSYF
P/E 7.4x 11.3x 7.4x
P/FCF – – 2.4x
P/Operating cash flow – – 2.4x
P/S 1.9x 5.4x 1.2x
P/B 0.8x 1.5x 1.4x
P/Tangible book 0.8x 1.5x 1.4x
EV/EBITDA – – 1.8x
EV/EBIT 16.9x -16.4x 1.9x
EV/Revenue -1.5x -9.8x 0.8x
EV/FCF – – 1.6x
EV/Operating cash flow – – 1.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.41 3.03 0.34

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBCSHSBCSYF
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.5% 1,900% 2.6%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 9.8% -4.3% 4.6%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – –
Operating income growth (1Y) – 40.9% –
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – 1.6% –
Net income growth (1Y) 19.1% 51.5% -6.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 10.5% -1.1% 12.0%
EPS growth (1Y) 29.0% 68.0% 6.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 17.8% 3.7% 21.7%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – – -2.0%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – – 5.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – – -2.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – – 5.6%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBCSHSBCSYF
Gross margin – – –
EBITDA margin – – 45.8%
Operating margin – 59.9% –
Pretax margin 33.1% 65.2% 22.6%
Net margin 26.0% 47.9% 16.8%
FCF margin – – 49.5%
Operating cash flow margin – – 49.5%
Return on equity 10.4% 14.3% 19.9%
Return on assets 0.5% 0.8% 2.7%
Return on invested capital – – 25.7%
Return on capital employed – – –
Asset turnover 0.0x 0.0x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – – 2.9x
Stock comp / revenue – – –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBCSHSBCSYF
Debt / assets 13.1% – 6.6%
Debt / equity 2.9x – 0.5x
Net debt / EBITDA – – -0.9x
Debt / FCF – – 0.8x
Liabilities / assets 95.5% 94.3% 86.5%
Equity / assets 4.5% 5.7% 13.5%
Interest coverage – – 2.1x
Current ratio – – –
Quick ratio – – –
Cash ratio – – –
Altman Z-score – – –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBCSHSBCSYF
Dividend yield 2.8% 4.4% 1.7%
Net buyback yield – – 16.5%
Shareholder yield 2.8% 4.4% 18.1%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 12.6%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 4.4%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 0.5%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 1.1%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusBCSHSBCSYF
Forward P/E 7.7xFY2026 9.5xFY2026 7.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.91FY2026 $9.02FY2026 $9.82FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +26.0%FY2026 +19.5%FY2026 +5.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +12.7% +9.1% +10.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $42.91BFY2026 $70.05BFY2026 $15.69BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +7.7%FY2026 -1.3%FY2026 +4.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -4.3% +18.0% +7.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBCSHSBCSYF
Held by institutions 8.5% 2.5% 100.0%
Institutions holding 556 707 1,002
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.9% -0.3% -0.8%
Institutions buying 306 402 526
Institutions selling 161 180 345
Buyers to sellers 1.90 2.23 1.52

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

BCSHSBCSYF
BCS 1.00 0.77 0.50
HSBC 0.77 1.00 0.37
SYF 0.50 0.37 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BCS, HSBC and SYF?

Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) is the largest by market capitalisation: Barclays (BCS) $77.83B, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) $295.45B, Synchrony Financial (SYF) $23.32B.

Which stock is cheaper, BCS, HSBC and SYF?

Barclays (BCS) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Barclays (BCS) 7.4x, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) 11.3x, Synchrony Financial (SYF) 7.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Synchrony Financial (SYF) is cheapest (Barclays (BCS) 7.7x, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) 9.5x, Synchrony Financial (SYF) 7.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Barclays (BCS) +9.5%, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) +1,900.0%, Synchrony Financial (SYF) +2.6%.

Which company is more profitable?

Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) has the highest net margin (Barclays (BCS) 26.0%, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) 47.9%, Synchrony Financial (SYF) 16.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) returned the most: Barclays (BCS) +5.5%, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) +28.0%, Synchrony Financial (SYF) +0.0%. Over five years, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) compounded fastest (Barclays (BCS) +14.9%/yr, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) +23.1%/yr, Synchrony Financial (SYF) +9.9%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) has the highest dividend yield: Barclays (BCS) 2.76%, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) 4.36%, Synchrony Financial (SYF) 1.65%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) has been the steadiest (Barclays (BCS) 31.0%, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) 28.3%, Synchrony Financial (SYF) 31.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, BCS, HSBC and SYF?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Hsbc Holdings (HSBC) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.