ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) Competitors

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

Is ESSA or OBK more profitable?

ESSA Bancorp has a net margin of 13.20% compared to Origin Bancorp's net margin of 12.34%. Origin Bancorp's return on equity of 6.91% beat ESSA Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESSA Bancorp	13.20%	6.84%	0.72%
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of ESSA or OBK?

54.2% of ESSA Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.5% of ESSA Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer ESSA or OBK?

In the previous week, Origin Bancorp had 2 more articles in the media than ESSA Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Origin Bancorp and 0 mentions for ESSA Bancorp. Origin Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.63 beat ESSA Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Origin Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
ESSA Bancorp	Neutral
Origin Bancorp	Very Positive

Do analysts recommend ESSA or OBK?

Origin Bancorp has a consensus target price of $43.20, suggesting a potential upside of 11.63%. Given Origin Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than ESSA Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESSA Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Origin Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is ESSA or OBK a better dividend stock?

ESSA Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. ESSA Bancorp pays out 38.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Origin Bancorp pays out 26.8% 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.

Which has better earnings & valuation, ESSA or OBK?

Origin Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than ESSA Bancorp. ESSA Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Origin 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	3.21	$16.99M	$1.55	13.30
Origin Bancorp	$347.73M	3.47	$76.49M	$2.24	17.28

Which has more risk and volatility, ESSA or OBK?

ESSA Bancorp has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Origin Bancorp beats ESSA Bancorp on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.