The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price is edging higher today, currently up 0.79% to $29.86.
Bank stocks have been somewhat of a mixed bag this year after first reaching for the stars in January.
For NAB, it nudged a 52-week high of $33.60 on 22 April, before faltering to a 52-week low of $25.92 by 17 June.
It has since made a recovery and retraced a good portion of that downside. However, questions remain on where NAB shares might head next.
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Are NAB shares the better buy?
The NAB share price is in fairly good steed with the group of analysts providing coverage. According to Refinitiv Eikon data, five out of 15 brokers rate it a buy right now, compared to nine saying it's a hold, and one a sell.
This is down from 10 out of 16 brokers voting it a buy a few months ago back in June.
Still, the consensus price target from this list is $31.24, implying a small amount of upside potential should the group be correct.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs are more bullish than this target, and valued NAB at $34.63 per share in a recent note.
It also forecasted $1.50 per share in dividends for the coming 12 months, with a rise to $1.70 per share the year after.
Meanwhile, things aren't so rosy over in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) camp. For comparison's sake, the rival bank has no buy ratings, and nine out of 16 brokers say it's a sell.
Shares are also down 5% this year to date after turning sharply off a relief rally from the June bounce in equities.
CBA also trades on a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 17.76 times at the time of writing, whereas NAB is priced at a slight discount to this at 15.11 times P/E.
Hence NAB has greater momentum on the chart, brokers say there is buying potential, and it trades at a discount to its rival in this instance.
CBA doesn't get there with a number of external factors to bake into the investment debate as well.
Based on the culmination of this data, it would appear the NAB share price is the better buy right now. However, this also comes down to one's personal investing style and, more importantly, risk budget.
