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Barclays’ (LSE: BARC) and Lloyds’ (LSE: LLOY) shares have done well for investors lately. Fuelled by investor interest in cheap UK stocks, both have stormed higher in 2025.
Is one bank stock a better investment than the other today? Let’s take a look at the set-up for each and compare the two blue-chip bank stocks.
Opportunities and risks
Before looking at valuation metrics and dividend yields, I think it’s worth looking at the business models of each. Because this will provide some insight into the opportunities and risks for each institution.
Today, Barclays is quite a diversified organisation. Not only does it offer traditional banking services (both in the UK and the US) but it also does investment banking, trading, and wealth management.
I believe this diversified model could throw up some decent opportunities for the group in the years ahead. With interest rates coming down, capital markets activity could pick up, boosting the investment banking division. Meanwhile, with equity and fixed income markets likely to remain volatile due to the political backdrop, there should be plenty of opportunities for Barclays’ traders.
Of course, this diversified model could be a bit of a double-edged sword. Because there’s always the risk of losses arising from movements in market prices. Overall though, I see it as an advantage.
Turning to Lloyds, it’s far more of a ‘vanilla’ banking institution. Most of its focus is on traditional banking services such as borrowing and lending and commercial banking. Meanwhile, it’s a very UK-centric bank.
For me, the high level of UK exposure‘s a risk. Because the UK economy isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders right now (the International Monetary Fund expects UK GDP growth of just 1.2% this year versus 3.3% for the US and 3% globally). However, sometimes a simple business model can pay off.
Which bank’s cheaper?
Moving on to valuations, analysts expect earnings per share (EPS) of 41.9p this year and 51.2p next for Barclays. So at today’s share price of 382p, we have price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios of 9.1 and 7.5.
As for Lloyds, analysts expect EPS of 7.48p and 9.55p. Therefore, at the current share price of 83p, we have P/E ratios of 11.1 and 8.7.
So right now, Barclays looks a fair bit cheaper than Lloyds.
Which has the highest yield?
Finally, turning to dividends, Barclays is expected to pay out 8.95p per share in income for 2025. That puts the yield at 2.3%.
Lloyds’ yield is quite a bit higher than this. Analysts expect a payout of 3.6p per share here, putting the yield at 4.3%.
My pick of the two
I have to point out that ‘the best’ when buying shares can be very subjective. But putting this all together, my personal pick of the two bank stocks is Barclays. While it doesn’t have the best yield, the stock looks cheap and I see plenty of opportunities for growth ahead.
In my view, it’s worth considering as a value play today.
