Flushing Financial (FFIC) Competitors

Northwest Bancshares (NASDAQ:NWBI) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment, institutional ownership and community ranking.

Is NWBI or FFIC more profitable?

Northwest Bancshares has a net margin of 13.26% compared to Flushing Financial's net margin of -6.46%. Northwest Bancshares' return on equity of 8.44% beat Flushing Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northwest Bancshares	13.26%	8.44%	0.92%
Flushing Financial	-6.46%	3.25%	0.24%

Is NWBI or FFIC a better dividend stock?

Northwest Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. Northwest Bancshares pays out 101.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Flushing Financial pays out -87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flushing Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts recommend NWBI or FFIC?

Northwest Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $12.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.43%. Flushing Financial has a consensus price target of $16.17, indicating a potential upside of 21.70%. Given Flushing Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Flushing Financial is more favorable than Northwest Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northwest Bancshares	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.50
Flushing Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the media prefer NWBI or FFIC?

In the previous week, Flushing Financial had 5 more articles in the media than Northwest Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Flushing Financial and 1 mentions for Northwest Bancshares. Flushing Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.86 beat Northwest Bancshares' score of 0.00 indicating that Flushing Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northwest Bancshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Flushing Financial	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals believe in NWBI or FFIC?

66.3% of Northwest Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Northwest Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Flushing Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NWBI or FFIC?

Northwest Bancshares received 28 more outperform votes than Flushing Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.20% of users gave Northwest Bancshares an outperform vote while only 51.04% of users gave Flushing Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northwest Bancshares	Outperform Votes 274 57.20%	Underperform Votes 205 42.80%
Flushing Financial	Outperform Votes 246 51.04%	Underperform Votes 236 48.96%

Which has more volatility & risk, NWBI or FFIC?

Northwest Bancshares has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, NWBI or FFIC?

Northwest Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Flushing Financial. Flushing Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northwest Bancshares, 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
Northwest Bancshares	$520.47M	2.96	$100.28M	$0.79	15.30
Flushing Financial	$124.74M	3.60	-$31.33M	-$1.01	-13.15

Summary

Flushing Financial beats Northwest Bancshares on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.