Which Is a Better Investment, Bank of America Corp or Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ADR) Stock?

By AAII Staff
September 02, 2026
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Sifting through countless of stocks in the Banks industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Bank of America Corporation or Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets. The Consumer Banking segment offers traditional and money market savings accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs, checking accounts, and investment accounts and products; credit and debit cards; residential mortgages and home equity loans; and direct and indirect loans. The GWIM segment provides investment management, brokerage, banking, and trust and retirement products and services; wealth management solutions; and customized solutions, including specialty asset management services. The Global Banking segment offers lending products and services, including commercial loans, leases, commitment facilities, trade finance, and commercial real estate and asset-based lending; treasury solutions, and underwriting and advisory services. The Global Markets segment provides market-making, financing, securities clearing, settlement, and custody services; securities and derivative products; and risk management products using interest rate, equity, credit, currency and commodity derivatives, foreign exchange, fixed-income, and mortgage-related products. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1784 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. provides various financial products and services to personal and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail Business, Wholesale Business and Activities with the Market + Corporation. The company offers current accounts; funds management; payments and collections; loans; credit and debit cards; investment and commercial banking services; real estate lending and financing services; economic, financial and brokerage advisory; and leasing and foreign exchange services. The company also provides non-life insurance products covering loss, damage, or liability for objects or people, as well as life insurance products covering death and personal accidents. It serves retail customers, account and non-account holders, individuals and legal entities, high income clients, microenterprises, and small companies, as well as middle-market companies and high net worth institutional clients. The company was formerly known as Itaú Unibanco Banco Múltiplo S.A. and changed its name to Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. in April 2009. The company was incorporated in 1924 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. is a subsidiary of IUPAR - Itaú Unibanco Participações S.A.

Latest Banks and Bank of America Corporation, Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, Bank of America Corporation had a $433.5 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $730.8 million. Bank of America Corporation’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 22.17% in the past year.

Currently, Bank of America Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 14.3. Bank of America Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $113.9 billion with a 29.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 16.8%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.675 per share for the current fiscal year. Bank of America Corporation currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

Currently, Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.’s price-earnings ratio is 9.5. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $27.7 billion with a 32.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 23.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $0.891 per share for the current fiscal year. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. currently has a 0.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. Stock Value Grades

Company Ticker Value
Bank of America Corporation BAC B
Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. ITUB B

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Bank of America Corporation has a Value Score of 77, which is Value. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a Value Score of 77, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Value Grade breakdown above, both Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. have a Value Grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, you will need to conduct further research into both of these companies’ other metrics to see if they could be good additions to your portfolio. It’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Bank of America Corporation BAC C
Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. ITUB C

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Bank of America Corporation has a Growth Score of 49, which is Average. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a Growth Score of 43, which is Average.

The Growth Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Bank of America Corporation or Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a high enough Growth Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Bank of America Corporation or Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. is the better investment when it comes to sustainable growth.

Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.’s Quality Grades

Company Ticker Quality
Bank of America Corporation BAC D
Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. ITUB F

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Bank of America Corporation has a Quality Score of 32, which is Weak. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a Quality Score of 6, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Bank of America Corporation or Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Bank of America Corporation or Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Don’t Forget Your Free Special Report on How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Investment Decisions

Other Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. Grades

In addition to Quality, Growth and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Estimate Revisions.

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Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Bank of America Corporation or Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. Stock?

Overall, Bank of America Corporation stock has a Value Score of 77, Growth Score of 49 and Quality Score of 32.

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. stock has a Value Score of 77, Growth Score of 43 and Quality Score of 6.

Comparing Bank of America Corporation and Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Learn More About A+ Investor

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



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