ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) Competitors

ESSA Bancorp (NASDAQ:ESSA) and TrustCo Bank Corp NY (NASDAQ:TRST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking, valuation and profitability.

Is ESSA or TRST a better dividend stock?

ESSA Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. TrustCo Bank Corp NY pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. ESSA Bancorp pays out 38.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TrustCo Bank Corp NY pays out 53.7% 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ESSA or TRST?

TrustCo Bank Corp NY received 24 more outperform votes than ESSA Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 54.85% of users gave ESSA Bancorp an outperform vote while only 53.44% of users gave TrustCo Bank Corp NY an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
ESSA Bancorp	Outperform Votes 147 54.85%	Underperform Votes 121 45.15%
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	Outperform Votes 171 53.44%	Underperform Votes 149 46.56%

Is ESSA or TRST more profitable?

TrustCo Bank Corp NY has a net margin of 18.56% compared to ESSA Bancorp's net margin of 14.83%. TrustCo Bank Corp NY's return on equity of 7.37% beat ESSA Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESSA Bancorp	14.83%	7.27%	0.75%
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	18.56%	7.37%	0.79%

Does the media prefer ESSA or TRST?

In the previous week, ESSA Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than TrustCo Bank Corp NY. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for ESSA Bancorp and 2 mentions for TrustCo Bank Corp NY. TrustCo Bank Corp NY's average media sentiment score of 1.86 beat ESSA Bancorp's score of 0.76 indicating that TrustCo Bank Corp NY is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ESSA Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, ESSA or TRST?

TrustCo Bank Corp NY has higher revenue and earnings than ESSA Bancorp. TrustCo Bank Corp NY is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ESSA Bancorp, 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
ESSA Bancorp	$65.23M	2.85	$16.99M	$1.55	11.82
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	$175.70M	3.38	$48.83M	$2.68	11.65

Do institutionals & insiders believe in ESSA or TRST?

54.2% of ESSA Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.6% of TrustCo Bank Corp NY shares are held by institutional investors. 7.5% of ESSA Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of TrustCo Bank Corp NY shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, ESSA or TRST?

ESSA Bancorp has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TrustCo Bank Corp NY has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TrustCo Bank Corp NY beats ESSA Bancorp on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.