Esquire Financial (ESQ) Competitors

Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, OBK or ESQ?

Origin Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Esquire Financial. Origin Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Esquire Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$358.20M	3.28	$76.49M	$2.44	15.43
Esquire Financial	$138.27M	6.35	$43.66M	$5.29	19.62

Which has more risk and volatility, OBK or ESQ?

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate OBK or ESQ?

Origin Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $42.20, suggesting a potential upside of 12.09%. Esquire Financial has a consensus price target of $96.50, suggesting a potential downside of 7.01%. Given Origin Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than Esquire Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Esquire Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is OBK or ESQ more profitable?

Esquire Financial has a net margin of 31.37% compared to Origin Bancorp's net margin of 12.34%. Esquire Financial's return on equity of 19.20% beat Origin Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%
Esquire Financial	31.37%	19.20%	2.45%

Does the media prefer OBK or ESQ?

In the previous week, Origin Bancorp and Origin Bancorp both had 6 articles in the media. Origin Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Esquire Financial's score of 0.61 indicating that Origin Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Origin Bancorp	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Esquire Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals believe in OBK or ESQ?

54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.7% of Esquire Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.0% of Esquire Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is OBK or ESQ a better dividend stock?

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Origin Bancorp pays out 24.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Esquire Financial pays out 13.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Esquire Financial has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Summary

Origin Bancorp and Esquire Financial tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.