Meridian Bank (MRBK) Competitors

Meridian Bank (NASDAQ:MRBK) and loanDepot (NYSE:LDI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment, profitability and risk.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in MRBK or LDI?

58.6% of Meridian Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.4% of loanDepot shares are held by institutional investors. 14.4% of Meridian Bank shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 78.1% of loanDepot shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate MRBK or LDI?

Meridian Bank currently has a consensus price target of $17.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.44%. loanDepot has a consensus price target of $2.30, indicating a potential downside of 46.20%. Given Meridian Bank's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Meridian Bank is more favorable than loanDepot.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Meridian Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
loanDepot	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, MRBK or LDI?

Meridian Bank has higher earnings, but lower revenue than loanDepot. loanDepot is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Meridian Bank, 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
Meridian Bank	$197.37M	0.87	$16.35M	$1.61	9.42
loanDepot	$871.73M	1.62	-$98.33M	-$0.33	-12.95

Which has more risk and volatility, MRBK or LDI?

Meridian Bank has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, loanDepot has a beta of 3.38, suggesting that its stock price is 238% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MRBK or LDI more profitable?

Meridian Bank has a net margin of 9.01% compared to loanDepot's net margin of -5.95%. Meridian Bank's return on equity of 10.62% beat loanDepot's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Meridian Bank	9.01%	10.62%	0.75%
loanDepot	-5.95%	-19.41%	-1.53%

Is MRBK or LDI a better dividend stock?

Meridian Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. loanDepot pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 112.3%. Meridian Bank pays out 31.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. loanDepot pays out -1,454.5% 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. loanDepot is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer MRBK or LDI?

In the previous week, loanDepot had 20 more articles in the media than Meridian Bank. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for loanDepot and 7 mentions for Meridian Bank. Meridian Bank's average media sentiment score of 1.71 beat loanDepot's score of 0.34 indicating that Meridian Bank is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Meridian Bank	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
loanDepot	10 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Meridian Bank beats loanDepot on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.