Provident Financial (PROV) Competitors

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) and Waterstone Financial (NASDAQ:WSBF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in PROV or WSBF?

71.3% of Provident Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.4% of Provident Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of Waterstone Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is PROV or WSBF a better dividend stock?

Provident Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Waterstone Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Provident Financial pays out 60.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Waterstone Financial pays out 52.6% 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. Waterstone Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer PROV or WSBF?

In the previous week, Provident Financial had 4 more articles in the media than Waterstone Financial. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Provident Financial and 1 mentions for Waterstone Financial. Waterstone Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.89 beat Provident Financial's score of 0.73 indicating that Waterstone Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Provident Financial	Positive
Waterstone Financial	Very Positive

Do analysts recommend PROV or WSBF?

Provident Financial presently has a consensus price target of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 6.11%. Given Provident Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Provident Financial is more favorable than Waterstone Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Provident Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Waterstone Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has better earnings & valuation, PROV or WSBF?

Waterstone Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Provident Financial. Waterstone Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Provident 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
Provident Financial	$60.15M	1.70	$6.26M	$0.93	16.72
Waterstone Financial	$202.47M	1.40	$18.69M	$1.14	13.34

Which has more volatility & risk, PROV or WSBF?

Provident Financial has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waterstone Financial has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PROV or WSBF more profitable?

Waterstone Financial has a net margin of 10.47% compared to Provident Financial's net margin of 10.40%. Waterstone Financial's return on equity of 6.07% beat Provident Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Provident Financial	10.40%	4.85%	0.50%
Waterstone Financial	10.47%	6.07%	0.93%

Summary

Waterstone Financial beats Provident Financial on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.