Which Is a Better Investment, BankUnited Inc or Hilltop Holdings Inc. Stock?

By Jenna Brashear
September 13, 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 Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited or Inc. 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 Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. provides business and consumer banking services. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance. It provides treasury management, asset management, check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, and overdraft privilege services; and estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, employee benefit accounts, and individual retirement accounts services, as well as automated teller machines. The Broker-Dealer segment offers public finance services that assist public entities in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions; specialized advisory and investment banking services; advice and guidance to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration; advisory services and products for derivatives and commodities; agricultural insurance; and sells, trades in, and underwrites U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, and municipal bonds; mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured products; and provides asset and liability management advisory, clearing, retail, and securities lending services. The Mortgage Origination segment offers fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, jumbo, new construction, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs, and United States Department of Agriculture loans. Hilltop Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

BankUnited, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for BankUnited, a national banking association that provides a range of banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, money market deposit, and savings accounts; certificates of deposit; and treasury, payments and cash management services. Its loans portfolio includes commercial loans, including equipment loans, secured and unsecured lines of credit, formula-based lines of credit, owner-occupied commercial real estate term loans and lines of credit, mortgage warehouse lines, subscription finance facilities, letters of credit, commercial credit cards, small business administration and U.S. department of agriculture product offerings, export-import bank financing products, trade finance, and business acquisition finance credit facilities; commercial real estate loans; residential mortgages; and other consumer loans. The company offers loan servicing and deposit transaction processing systems, cloud-based data storage, electronic funds transfer transaction processing, online banking services, ERP systems and computer and networking infrastructure. It operates through a network of banking centers located in Florida counties and the New York metropolitan area, as well as Dallas, Texas. The company was formerly known as BU Financial Corporation. BankUnited, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida.

Latest Banks and Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited, Inc. Stock News

As of September 11, 2026, Hilltop Holdings Inc. had a $2.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $756.4 million. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s stock is up 14% in 2026, down 0.6% in the previous five trading days and up 11.25% in the past year.

Currently, Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 14.3. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.3 billion with a 12.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.407 per share for the current fiscal year. Hilltop Holdings Inc. currently has a 2.3% dividend yield.

As of September 11, 2026, BankUnited, Inc. had a $3.2 billion market cap, putting it in the 60th percentile of all stocks. BankUnited, Inc.’s stock is up 0.5% in 2026, down 2.4% in the previous five trading days and up 15.98% in the past year.

Currently, BankUnited, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.3. BankUnited, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.0 billion with a 26.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 4.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.898 per share for the current fiscal year. BankUnited, Inc. currently has a 2.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc. 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 Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company Ticker Value
Hilltop Holdings Inc. HTH A
BankUnited, Inc. BKU A

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.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Value Score of 88, which is Deep Value. BankUnited, Inc. has a Value Score of 82, which is Deep Value.

The Value Stock Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Value Grade breakdown above, both Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc. have a Value Grade of A. 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.

Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc. Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Hilltop Holdings Inc. HTH F
BankUnited, Inc. BKU B

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.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Growth Score of 8, which is Very Weak. BankUnited, Inc. has a Growth Score of 77, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: BankUnited, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, BankUnited, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Hilltop Holdings Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, BankUnited, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company Ticker Earnings Estimate
Hilltop Holdings Inc. HTH C
BankUnited, Inc. BKU F

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

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 46, which is Neutral. BankUnited, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 19, which is Very Negative.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited or Inc. has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade that could be considered a “winner.” Investors 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 Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

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

Other Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc. Grades

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

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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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite 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 F-Score.

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 Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Hilltop Holdings Inc. stock has a Value Score of 88, Growth Score of 8 and Estimate Revisions Score of 46.

BankUnited, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 82, Growth Score of 77 and Estimate Revisions Score of 19.

Comparing Hilltop Holdings Inc., BankUnited and Inc.’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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