Heritage Financial (HFWA) Competitors

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) and Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk, community ranking and media sentiment.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HFWA or CATY?

Heritage Financial received 3 more outperform votes than Cathay General Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.01% of users gave Cathay General Bancorp an outperform vote while only 57.93% of users gave Heritage Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Heritage Financial	Outperform Votes 336 57.93%	Underperform Votes 244 42.07%
Cathay General Bancorp	Outperform Votes 333 58.01%	Underperform Votes 241 41.99%

Which has more risk and volatility, HFWA or CATY?

Heritage Financial has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cathay General Bancorp has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer HFWA or CATY?

In the previous week, Cathay General Bancorp had 3 more articles in the media than Heritage Financial. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Cathay General Bancorp and 3 mentions for Heritage Financial. Heritage Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.66 beat Cathay General Bancorp's score of 1.05 indicating that Heritage Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Heritage Financial	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Cathay General Bancorp	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate HFWA or CATY?

Heritage Financial presently has a consensus price target of $27.67, indicating a potential upside of 19.51%. Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus price target of $50.17, indicating a potential upside of 14.82%. Given Heritage Financial's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Heritage Financial is more favorable than Cathay General Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heritage Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Cathay General Bancorp	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is HFWA or CATY a better dividend stock?

Heritage Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Cathay General Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Heritage Financial pays out 64.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cathay General Bancorp pays out 34.3% 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. Heritage Financial has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Heritage Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, HFWA or CATY?

Cathay General Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Heritage Financial. Cathay General Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heritage 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
Heritage Financial	$225.80M	3.50	$43.26M	$1.48	15.64
Cathay General Bancorp	$742.38M	4.13	$285.98M	$3.96	11.03

Do institutionals & insiders believe in HFWA or CATY?

78.3% of Heritage Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Heritage Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Cathay General Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is HFWA or CATY more profitable?

Cathay General Bancorp has a net margin of 20.57% compared to Heritage Financial's net margin of 13.64%. Cathay General Bancorp's return on equity of 10.70% beat Heritage Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heritage Financial	13.64%	7.17%	0.87%
Cathay General Bancorp	20.57%	10.70%	1.29%

Summary

Cathay General Bancorp beats Heritage Financial on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.